I am responding to your article that appeared in the June 3 edition, “On-network calling plans satisfy carriers, customers,” by Dan Meyer. Your description of the Rural Cellular Corp. roaming increase cited in the article did not clearly represent actual events that occurred between 1999 and today.
You alluded that the increase in our roaming revenue was directly related to the national carriers’ implementation of one-rate plans. In our case, roaming revenue significantly increased during that time due to our acquisition of Triton Cellular (April 2000), which effectively doubled the size of RCC.
In regard to the “less certain” future of rural service providers, one of the positive effects of the one-rate plan was that it encouraged use by the customer, regardless of location. Individual use patterns will only change now and in the future if the off-network costs have significant financial impact to the customer. Cooperative relationships between carriers and competitive roaming rates will ensure continued use by customers and continued revenue to rural roaming partners.
From a roaming perspective, the future success of RCC and other rural service providers will be directly related to our ability to support the technology deployed by our significant roaming partners. In our case, RCC is committed to doing that. The inherent advantage of our existing networks and our ability to migrate to other technologies less expensively, coupled with our willingness to work closely with our roaming partners, will provide an ongoing revenue stream into the future.
W.A. “Lex” Wilkinson Jr. CPP, CFE
Rural Cellular Corp.
