Just short of a year after announcing its intentions, CenturyLink Inc. (CTL) received Federal Communications Commission approval for its acquisition of Qwest Communications International Inc. (Q) The deal, which was announced last April, calls for CenturyLink shareholders to control 50.5% of the combined operations,...
The Rural Cellular Association gained its largest member today as regional operator MetroPCS Communications Inc. (PCS) has joined the trade association. The move provides RCA with the nation’s No. 5 operator and the largest carrier outside of the four nationwide operators. MetroPCS served more...
The Federal Communications Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to try to reform the Universal Service Fund and Intercarrier Compensation system, both of which are “plagued with waste and inefficiency,” according to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.In a unanimous vote, the agency is...
Editor's Note: The mobile space witnessed a lot of news over the past 12 months that have and will alter the mobile landscape for years to come. With the end of 2010 just days away, RCR Wireless News takes a look back at the...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.This week, we touch on the second part of the “wish list” – those items that are...
The Federal Communications Commission is going forward with plans to create a Mobility Fund as part of its overall National Broadband Plan. The agency released a notice of proposed rulemaking that would create the fund, taking between $100 million and $300 from the Universal...
The Federal Communications Commission is attempting to educate consumers about broadband speeds, and at the same time, is seeking comment on how mobile broadband speeds should be measured.Broadband access, including mobile broadband connections, are coming under increased scrutiny in Congress and at the FCC...
LAS VEGAS – To the surprise of few, rural wireless operators continue to face a number of challenges in their daily quest to remain viable options for consumers increasingly bombarded with advertising and promotions from nationwide operators. Operators that spend billions of dollars on...
LAS VEGAS – The Rural Cellular Association kicked off its annual convention with a pledge to improve the trade organizations efforts in Washington, D.C., following a reorganization that saw the trade group replace its former executive director with a new CEO. RCA's new leadership...
The Rural Cellular Association kicks off its 18th Annual Convention and Exhibition this week in Las Vegas, and as in years past the trade organization faces a number of issues that are impacting rural operators. Those issues include access to devices, roaming agreements, network...
The Rural Cellular Association kicks off its 18th Annual Convention and Exhibition this week in Las Vegas, and as in years past the trade organization faces a number of issues that are impacting rural operators. Those issues include access to devices, roaming agreements, network...
The Federal Communications Commission yesterday eliminated the highly-contentious home roaming exclusion for mobile services that had allowed carriers to decline roaming requests from other operators if that requesting operator offered voice services in the market it was requesting the roaming agreement.
"By eliminating the exclusion,...
LAS VEGAS—Even if the Federal Communications Commission didn't give the wireless industry everything it wanted in the National Broadband Plan, panelists at “The Evolving Wireless Ecosystem—What's Next in Wireless Law, Policy and Technology,” are excited about the plan. The Monday event, sponsored by CTIA...
The National Broadband Plan delivered to Congress today calls for another 500 megahertz of spectrum to be freed up for wireless use by 2020, as well as an auction of D-Block spectrum and greater use of unlicensed spectrum.Federal Communications Chairman Julius Genachowski has been...
Hello! And welcome to our Friday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWireless.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....
For all the hoopla that preceded congressional approval of broadband funding in the $787 billion stimulus bill signed into law by President Obama - and the controversy apt to follow the vaguely defined $7.2 billion grant programs - the most profound impact on the...
President-elect Barack Obama's thematic "change" mantra has infiltrated Capitol Hill, with a shakeup in the leadership of key House and Senate committees likely to raise the profile and potency of consumer protection, open access and universal service issues for the wireless industry in the...
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin, with time dwindling to move top policy priorities as a new administration prepares to assume power in January, is laying the groundwork to win approval by mid-December of final rules for highly controversial public-safety and wireless broadband auction...
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin last week scratched a planned vote to reform the universal service fund and intercarrier compensation regimes, providing a temporary reprieve for small- and mid-sized wireless providers that oppose a plan to phase out hundreds of millions of dollars...
The Federal Communications Commission today conditionally approved the Verizon Wireless-Alltel Communications L.L.C. and the Sprint Nextel-Clearwire Corp. mergers, while also voting to allow unlicensed devices to operate in vacant broadcast spectrum known as white spaces.The three major wireless decisions, which were preceded by massive...
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin has scratched a planned Nov. 4 vote on reforming the universal service fund and intercarrier compensation regimes. The move is a temporary reprieve for small- and mid-size mobile-phone operators that oppose a plan to phase out hundreds of...
So far, despite massive lobbying over scheduled Nov. 4 votes on white spaces, wireless mergers, the universal service fund and intercarrier-compensation reforms, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin has yet to blink. The FCC last night released the official agenda for the...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.The news from the heartland of America is that rural wireless carriers are as technologically savvy as...
Editor's Note: RCR Wireless News Washington Bureau Chief Jeffrey Silva asked the presidential campaigns of Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) to respond to e-mailed questions covering a wide range of policy matters confronting the wireless industry and the telecom/high-tech sectors generally.
McCain's...
