#cca2015

Convention Caffeinates with Competify

By: Steven K. Berry, President & CEO, CCA

Earlier this month at CCA’s Annual Convention in Fort Lauderdale, CCA brought together key policymakers including FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael O’Rielly and industry thought leaders for robust discussions on the future of the competitive mobile ecosystem.  

Throughout the 3-day event, the conversation centered on the critical policies needed to create a competitive broadband economy, specifically: the 600 MHz incentive auction, Universal Service Fund reform, roaming and FirstNet, as well as the transition to 4G and looking ahead to 5G.

We also were joined by Competify — a coalition launched earlier this year by CCA and other trade associations and service providers— who hosted a coffee bar that was hard to miss thanks to the light-hearted, medically-inspired campaign signage.   While the ads are light-hearted, the campaign is centered around a serious issue: urging the FCC to address the scourge of high broadband prices and anticompetitive behavior by advancing meaningful broadband competition.

As we all know, ensuring Americans have access to robust broadband services is critical; however, a powerful few incumbents control the high-capacity pipelines that are the base of a wired economy. These access lines connect everything from local ATMs to schools and libraries.  They also play a vital role in connecting cell towers.  These dedicated lines are basic building blocks for any competitive carrier that wants to connect their customers to that “last mile” of service.

Many of the discussions at the Convention also included small cell deployment and infrastructure updates, which require access to high-capacity broadband lines to be successful.  As deployments are increased to handle exponential growth in data traffic, backhaul takes on an even more important role.

Competitive carriers face a number of obstacles trying to compete with the largest national carriers, and with the upcoming incentive auction around the corner, carriers are monitoring their resources more closely than ever before.  Competitive carriers should not have to face monopoly rents for necessary inputs purchased from competitors.  Limited resources are better directed toward providing the most robust service possible to their customers rather than paid to affiliates of the largest wireless carriers.

The FCC has the power to stop these dominant companies from using their market power to extract unjust and unreasonable rates to access the information superhighway, and has taken the first steps to addressing the issue.  The FCC has completed a robust data collection and has the information needed to thoroughly review the marketplace.  It has launched an investigation into the terms and conditions that may further lock up the market.  These are strong steps forward, but we need your help to get the job done.  

Join our campaign to ensure the Commission fixes this broken marketplace once and for all.  Let’s keep the momentum from the Convention going and keep pushing forward to ensure all competitive carriers have a meaningful opportunity to compete and thrive in the ever-growing mobile industry.