The Competitive Carriers Association’s 2015 Annual Convention featured comments from FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael O’Rielly, who acknowledged CCA and its members for their leadership on behalf of competitive policy issues. CCA’s Annual Convention took place Oct. 7-9 at the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center.
Commissioner Clyburn stressed the importance of the Universal Service Fund, making a strong pitch for a permanent mobility fund, and discussed the importance of providing mobile broadband to all Americans, especially those in rural and hard-to-reach areas.
Commissioner Michael O’Rielly told attendees that infrastructure is needed to deliver the latest innovations and to maintain the economic growth of the wireless sector, along with its corresponding benefits to the U.S. economy, as well as the U.S. position as the leader in wireless and Internet technologies. In contrast to Commissioner Clyburn, O’Rielly expressed concerns that the mobility fund may not happen.
“With the wireless industry focused on the 600 MHz auction and what comes next, CCA’s Convention provided a marketplace of ideas and solutions,” said Steve Berry, president and CEO of CCA. “With top-notch speakers from FCC Commissioners and policy advisers to industry thought-leaders and media and analysts, we brought together the most influential voices in mobile to lay out the industry’s vision for 2016 and beyond. The robust exhibit floor featured the latest innovations and technologies and offered an ideal networking platform for all attendees.”
The “Leading Women in Wireless” panel addressed opportunities for women in the wireless industry; the gains women have made in regulatory, technology and carrier organizations; and the role of mentoring and professional education programs in continuing to create opportunities for women to advance in the wireless industry.
Speakers included: Jessica Almond, acting legal adviser, engineering and technology, wireless, and incentive auction at the Federal Communications Commission; Paige Atkins, associate administrator, Office of Spectrum Management at NTIA; Mary Clark, CMO at Syniverse; Kathleen Ham, SVP for government affairs at T-Mobile US; Tina Pidgeon, general counsel, CCO and SVP, governmental affairs at GCI; and Rebecca Murphy Thompson, general counsel at CCA.
“This year’s convention included some of the most dynamic women in our industry – from Commissioner Clyburn to our Leading Women in Wireless panelists – who are driving change and innovation,” continued Berry. “These discussions, along with our technical panel on mobile network virtualization, are emblematic of the type of innovation and opportunity coming out of the competitive mobile ecosystem.”
Iain Gillott, president of iGR, moderated a keynote panel entitled “Virtualized Networks and Cloud Based Services,” which featured Miguel Dajer of Huawei Technologies USA, Glenn Laxdal of Ericsson, Steve Northridge of Oracle Communications and Jim Tindall of Alcatel-Lucent, who shared best practices and strategies for shifting core revenue-generating traffic to virtualized networks.
Leading industry analyst Chetan Sharma presented an overview of the next wave of opportunities and challenges for the wireless industry and provided recommendations for carriers to incorporate in their future plans to remain competitive. A CTO carrier roundtable followed with Ken Borner of Atlantic Tele-Network; Jim Lienau of Cellcom; Mark McDiarmid of T-Mobile US; and Neville Meijers of Qualcomm, discussing current activities and transitions necessary for carriers to meet consumer expectations and deploy future networks.
For a full playlist of CCA Annual Convention keynote and panel livestreams, click here.
CCA’s inaugural Mobile Carriers Show will take place April 13-15, 2016, at the Music City Center in Nashville, Tenn. The Mobile Carriers Show’s expanded program, networking opportunities and exhibit floor will explore technology trends that are changing the industry and will provide a platform for companies to reach the lucrative competitive-carrier market.
