RuralCarrierAssociation
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Sprint's partnering with smaller carriers for coast-to-coast LTE coverage
Instead of building its own coverage infrastructure in areas where the deer and antelope play, Sprint is teaming up with smaller carriers to create a cross-country roaming network. At its conference tomorrow, the Competitive Carrier Association (CCA) is expected to announce the launch of its Data Access Hub and a partnership with Sprint, which will create a coast-to-coast 4G network that's comprised of many smaller regional networks that are all stitched together. As CNET tells it, this could give Sprint (and possibly T-Mobile, should it join) customers access to rural data networks -- areas that are typically dead zones -- and those on the rural networks would gain access to urban LTE coverage; the street would go both ways here it seems. The CCA's president, Steve Berry, says that the reasoning behind the shift is simple: it'd take billions of dollars and several years for the Now network or the magenta carrier to build their own rural coverage areas to rival the likes of AT&T and Verizon. This move could help level the playing field for the smaller carriers, he says, and possibly provide a better experience for pretty much everyone involved. [Image credit: Rennett Stowe / Flickr]
Rural Carrier Association not happy with AT&T's MediaFLO spectrum buy, asks FCC to reject it
The Rural Carrier Association -- representing some of the US' smallest carriers -- has a tumultuous relationship (at best) with industry giants AT&T and Verizon; major sticking points over the past several years have revolved around handset exclusivity and roaming deals that the rural guys need for their subscribers to have functional devices outside their relatively small footprints. The latest battlefront looks to be AT&T's deal to buy the juicy, high-value 700MHz spectrum that Qualcomm had been using to run its MediaFLO network, which the RCA says is a little excessive in light of the fact that the company and Verizon together already hold 70 percent of the available 700MHz airspace out there -- prime territory for LTE. The complaint might be a decoy, though: right in its press release, the RCA says that if the FCC does approve the purchase, it should require automatic roaming on the spectrum so that rural carriers have a chance to offer its customers 4G service there. Presumably, the RCA realizes its chances of actually getting the deal rejected are small -- so it's tying it all back in to the existing roaming concerns it's had. We see what you did there, guys! Follow the break for the press release.
