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The Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) hosts its annual convention in Palm Springs, California, this week
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CCA’s membership consists of mostly smaller, regional carriers – some of which are still grappling with Huawei and ZTE gear in their networks
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If the U.S. government doesn’t pony up the funds, key coverage these carriers provide will go away
It may seem as though the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) has been talking about the lack of adequate Rip and Replace funding for years – and it has been. But now things are really starting to hit the fan.
For those affected by Rip and Replace, they’re in a very dire situation right now, said CCA President and CEO Tim Donovan in a recent interview.
Donovan is getting ready to host this week’s Mobile Carriers Show in Palm Springs, California, where CCA members will convene to discuss everything from Rip and Replace to artificial intelligence (AI) and everything in between.
Congress created the Rip and Replace program in 2020 to get Chinese components out of U.S. wireless networks, but the funding fell $3 billion short of what’s needed to finish the job. Some parts of U.S. rural networks still have significant amounts of Huawei and/or ZTE gear in their systems – including in networks near military bases and national labs.
Some carriers likely will be forced to shut down if more funding is not provided. For others, their footprints will look starkly different – and smaller.
“We’re hitting that wall now on the Rip and Replace side where funds are being used up and carriers are having to make decisions,” Donovan said.
“There are a lot of questions now that are the ones we had hoped we’d never have to ask, but until Congress can provide the funding, that’s the unfortunate reality that we’re facing for those operators.”
There is hope for a resolution in the sense that proposals are being teed up in Washington, D.C. For example, last month Sen. Steve Daines (R-Montana) introduced the Supporting National Security with Spectrum Act to fully fund the Rip and Replace program.
Senators at a Senate hearing on spectrum and national security last month certainly demonstrated that they’re well aware of the urgency to address the funding shortfall.
Efforts to fix it are getting bipartisan support, too. For example, Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming) borrowed a map from Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado) during the hearing to show how the lack of funding is hitting their states especially hard.
It will be particularly bad for a segment of Interstate 80, a major trucking route, that is in jeopardy of losing cell phone coverage, Lummis said.
“For Wyoming and of course my colleagues in Nebraska and Colorado, this is a huge risk and time’s running out,” Lummus said.
Donovan said those kinds of moments – when senators from both sides of the aisle are on the same page – give him hope that this is an issue that Congress can break through and get it over the finish line.
Full agenda
Of course, other big issues are looming too. There’s the updated 5G Fund order that is circulating among FCC commissioners and that program is tremendously important to CCA’s wireless carriers. The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which is winding down with little sign of revival, impacts many CCA members. Additionally, carriers of all sizes want more mid-band spectrum for 5G in the pipeline, including for rural areas.
Donovan said his membership also is looking at a lot of opportunities to serve consumers in new ways, including with fixed wireless access (FWA) and private networks. There will be sessions on generative AI, the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, the marketing of 5G, satellite-to-device communications and ChaTGPT.
Attendees will have a chance to hear from FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, who will deliver a keynote on Wednesday morning.
But there are lighter items on the agenda, like sunrise yoga, a pickleball tournament and, of course, happy hour on the exhibit floor.
In other words: “There’s something for everybody,” he said.
Fierce will have boots on the ground reporting live from the show. So make sure you stay tuned this week! You can check out all the latest updates in our CCA hub here.