Today, the sessions and keynotes begin for the Annual Convention of the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) at the Omni Amelia Island Resort on Amelia Island, Florida. FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks is keynoting at 12:30 p.m. Eastern.
Following Starks is a regulatory panel titled, “Perspectives on Washington: Navigating the Road Ahead,” starting at 12:45 p.m. Of note will be discussions on where ‘Rip & Replace’ stands, the future of the 5G Fund and the FCC’s lack of spectrum auction authority.
CCA President/CEO Tim Donovan tells Inside Towers it’s disappointing that the so-called Rip & Replace program is facing a more than $3 billion shortfall. The program reimburses small carriers for removing, replacing and disposing of untrusted network equipment from Huawei and ZTE. The situation has meant that CCA members who are part of the program have only been reimbursed about 40 cents on the dollar to-date.
He notes there’s bipartisan support in Congress to fully fund the program. “This past July was supposed to be the completion date” for the work, he adds.
Inside Towers asked if that situation could change this Fall. “I do hope so,” he says. The biggest challenge now, is lawmakers have a limited time-frame to fund the government, act on the Farm Bill and the Defense Authorization Act among other pieces of legislation, Donovan explains.
The FCC lost its authority to auction spectrum or plan for those auctions in March when Congress let that authority lapse, Inside Towers reported. Donovan calls the situation “a challenge, because that makes it so much harder to plan for future network investment and deployment.” He says getting auction authority back on track is the first step.
“There still is work underway to identify additional frequencies that can be made available, but at a bare minimum, we need to have that auction authority in place so that carriers can look down the road and see what spectrum could be available. It’s really hard if you can’t have the certainty of licensed spectrum, to really put that investment behind it for deployment.”
Representatives from Commissioner Starks’ office and CCA members ATN International, Southern Linc and Southern Telecom, Inc. and T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) are slated to speak at the D.C. panel.
Immediately following at 1:30 p.m. is “Generative AI Unveiled: From Basics to Breakthroughs.” Presented by Mark Harms, Director – Client Technical Solutions, Award Solutions, this interactive keynote will explore the foundational principles and the status of generative AI, demystify concepts, explore various options, and highlight real-world examples, according to the association. Time will be allotted for questions from the audience along the way.
Tuesday registration opens at 7:30 a.m. and runs through 6 p.m. The exhibit hall opens at 2:30 and remains open until 6 p.m.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
Reader Interactions