WASHINGTON-GSM, not CDMA, is the choice of rural carriers that plan upgrades this year, according to a survey released Thursday by the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association.
“Virtually all of the survey respondents who offer wireless to their customers indicated that they intend to upgrade within the next 12 months, with GSM preferred over CDMA by more than two to one,” reads the survey.
NTCA represents small rural carriers that offer primarily wireline services to their customers. These carriers were originally created to provide telecommunications services to their areas when Ma Bell would not. In 2002, it surveyed its members to see whether they offer wireless services. The survey released Thursday updates the 2002 results.
In the fall of 2003, 135 (28 percent) of NTCA’s 560 members responded to the online survey.
While the survey respondents said they are preparing to upgrade their wireless facilities, they are having financing difficulties, with 75 percent saying that obtaining financing is “somewhat difficult” to “virtually impossible.”
NTCA’s members are using loans from the Rural Utilities Service with 19 percent saying they have either successfully obtained financing or their applications are still pending.
Rural carriers would rather use licensed, not unlicensed, spectrum to serve their customers, according to the survey. “While unlicensed spectrum provides some relief for those carriers who are unable to obtain spectrum licenses at auction, it is far from an ideal solution to the problem. Nearly 40 percent of survey respondents are currently utilizing unlicensed spectrum to provide wireless services. Several, however, indicated difficulties with interference from other unlicensed spectrum users-a problem that will continue to worsen as more and more wireless users try to use a limited available quantity of unlicensed spectrum. Tellingly, an overwhelming majority of respondents would prefer access to additional licensed spectrum over additional unlicensed spectrum,” reads the survey.
Allocating unlicensed spectrum is currently popular with Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, often citing rural America as the place that unlicensed is most welcome to provide broadband to customers. Last fall, Powell and a group of journalists toured a rural Virginia company that offers unlicensed broadband services. Verizon Communications Inc., not a rural carrier, serves that area of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Rural carriers often tout how they offer broadband to their customers, while the regional Bell operating companies often serve their rural customers last.
