LAS VEGAS — The past 12 months have been a tumultuous time for rural carriers and even more so for the Rural Cellular Association. The trade association has brought in a new executive director with a different view on RCA’s mission; has seen large and influential members like Dobson Communications Corp. and Rural Cellular Corp. picked off by the wireless industry’s two largest operators; and recently the RCA has moved from its long-time home in Texas to the hotbed of political lobbying in Washington, D.C.
According to the RCA’s new executive director Eric Peterson, the move to Washington, D.C., was a strategic shift for the association, which is increasing its focus on contentious regulatory issues facing RCA’s members, including the Universal Service Fund, E-911 and data roaming, all issues that might have slipped through the cracks in previous years.
“We get our hands on our advocacy programs instead of just relying at a distance on what we’re being told by our advocacy team. They are all quality people, but we want to be certain that what they are working on is our priority and that it’s being addressed the way we want it addressed,” explained Peterson during last week’s RCA event in Las Vegas. “Not to take anything away from the previous association management teams, but their interest was in the administration of running the association, not necessarily on delivering services and or advocating for the members. It was very easy to say, “Well we’ve got guys in Washington to take care of that for us,” but now we’ve got a guy in Washington who is overseeing that and is making certain that what we do at the FCC and on Capitol Hill truly reflect what we want and has the impact that we want to have.”
Transparency
In addition to having a greater say in how its regulatory wishes are handled, Peterson was adamant that he wanted RCA to be a more open and nurturing organization for its member base.
As further proof of Peterson’s drive for transparency, the RCA released its first-ever annual report, which included financial results for 2006 and 2007. This was a daring move by Peterson as the results show the trade association dropped from net income of $144,030 in 2006 to a loss of $154,022 in 2007, which Peterson attributed to the significant changes RCA has undergone in the past 12 months. He hopes those changes will turn the organization back into the black as soon as next year and set RCA up for a more prosperous future.
“The transition from Texas to Washington and the costs associated with that are significant, but we think the investment will pay off and in fact it is paying off,” Peterson said. “You look at the attendance at this year’s convention and it’s the biggest, most successful convention that we’ve ever had. We have 72 of the 83 carrier members of the association in attendance, and they’re not just represented by a single person, but by multiple people, 230 or more carrier representatives at this convention. Every booth in that hall is sold out, a vast majority of our sponsorship opportunities were taken. People are excited about the future of our industry and excited about what RCA is doing. We have tried to evolve RCA to a higher level of professionalism, to a higher level of service, improve our products and our communication with our membership and I think by the attendance and the success of this convention, we are having an impact.”
Showtime
Indeed, this year’s RCA event seemed well attended in context to the size of its member base. RCA also pulled together a solid list of speakers at this year’s event, including Frank Gallagher from investment banker Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Inc. to touch on the general view of wireless from the investment community. Even Cyren Call Communication Corp.’s Chairman Morgan O’Brien headlined a keynote.
While RCA was proud of the attendance at this year’s event, Peterson acknowledged the leadership impact on RCA with some its largest carriers being acquired, but noted the group’s remaining 83 members support RCA’s work. Peterson singled out former Rural Cellular executive Richard Ekstrand as a key supporter of RCA and said he hopes Ekstrand would continue to play a role in RCA following Rural Cellular’s acquisition by Verizon Wireless.
“We were sad to see them go and it’s one of those things where we want to see them grow and be successful, and RCC and Dobson are good examples of small, rural carriers that have grown and become successful and unfortunately they made the decision to go with the bigger guys, but that was their business decision and we respect that,” Peterson said.
Of course, having supporters with some pull at larger carriers could prove beneficial for RCA and its members as the group continues to solidify its place in the ultra-competitive industry. And, as Peterson explained, that place is to provide wireless customers who have stuck with smaller operators access to the same benefits offered by the big players.
“Our objective is to make certain that a person living in rural Iowa has the same service, the same convenience and the same technological convenience as the person living in New York or Chicago,” Peterson said.
