9.23.12 - Commissioner Genachowski addresses the CCA 20th Annual Convention at CCA's 20th Anniversary Gala Dinner ...

The wireless industry has recently consolidated at an alarmingly rapid rate and competitive carriers face ever-increasing obstacles to competing with the “Big Two” carriers – Verizon and AT&T. The market dominance of the Big Two is nearly ubiquitous, including ...

By Steven K. Berry, President & CEO, CCA - The Competitive Carriers Association 5.21.12 - Today’s announcement that five large cable companies will join forces to give their customers access to each other’s WiFi networks yet again brings to light the data roaming challenges that competitive carriers face each and every day.  Roaming, regardless of the technology type, allows consumers to access connecti ...

By: Steven K. Berry, President & CEO, CCA – The Competitive Carriers Association “It is no surprise that someone representing Verizon’s interests is dismissing concerns raised by competitive carriers over Verizon’s proposal to acquire the cable companies’ spectrum licenses. I don’t expect Verizon to be sympathetic to competitive carriers’ challenges because unless you’re a Verizon partner and able to fill i ...

In recent remarks at a Milken Institute conference, AT&T’s Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson clearly stated that there should be less competition in the wireless industry. He said, “I don’t think the market’s going to accommodate the number of competitors there are in the landscape...Competitors will be forced to drop out if they can’t find enough wireless capacity to offer modern data services to growing ...

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) yesterday released a long-awaited study about the 1755-1850 MHz spectrum band. We’re very pleased that NTIA found it possible to repurpose all 95 MHz of this spectrum, as many CCA members desperately need additional spectrum to address growing consumer demands. While the report is generally positive about repurposing this spectrum, as the ...

Even AT&T sees the benefit of Interoperability: Ralph de la Vega, AT&T’s Mobility President & CEO, said at the 2012 Mobile World Congress that “Interoperability has been proven as a driver of messaging traffic. In 2001, after the nation's wireless carriers connected their text messaging services--thereby allowing users to send messages to the subscribers of rival carriers--text messaging traffic skyrocketed ...

Interoperability will allow a greater number of carriers to make the leap to the next “G” and deploy 4G LTE wireless service, the most efficient wireless air interface in use in the market today. Using 700 MHz band holdings as a foundation for 4G LTE service, carriers will be able to upgrade their device offerings to customers to the latest technology and transition customers to newer devices over time. Wit ...

Interoperability will help generate higher auction revenue. Interoperability was mandated with cellular spectrum and it was presumed ever since, until AT&T and Verizon bifurcated the 700 MHz spectrum. This presumption encouraged large numbers of applicants to participate in spectrum auctions. For example, approximately 142 MHz of spectrum was auctioned for advanced wireless services from 2001–2010, netting ...

Interoperability is a fundamental requirement for 4G LTE roaming.  Despite several carriers deploying 4G mobile broadband services in the same frequency band (700 MHz) with the same technology (Long Term Evolution or LTE), 4G roaming with this latest technology will not be possible without interoperability.  That means that a customer who buys an LTE device, selects an LTE data plan, and moves out of their ...