January 2014
| Business World Magazine | 131
and the leadership of then-Chairwoman
Clyburn, the FCC forged an industry so-
lution that will restore interoperability
to the lower 700 MHz band. Interoper-
ability will allow CCA members to build
out nearly $2 billion worth of low band
spectrum, which will help spur economic
growth, create jobs and benefit consum-
ers throughout the nation. This marked an
important day for the wireless industry in
the U.S., and I am very pleased CCA and
our members remained steadfast in our
commitment to ensuring interoperability
became a reality. Going forward, we will
need to make sure that there is interoper-
ability in the upcoming 600 MHz band as
well, so that carriers can bid with confi-
dence knowing that they will be able to
use any spectrum that they win.
BW: Another group that you’re work-
ing for, or another body that benefits
from your work are all those customers
that belong to those smaller carriers.
That’s a lot of people, no?
BERRY:
Absolutely. If you take our col-
lective footprint, if you add Sprint, T-Mo-
bile, C SpireWireless, Bluegrass Cellular,
Thumb Cellular and everyone else that’s
currently a member, you’re talking about
a third of the United States – roughly 80
million subscribers. We believe those
consumers would like to have choices –
for carriers, services and devices. And as
small businessmen and women, we also
understand that if consumers have choic-
es and prices are regulated more by the
marketplace, you don’t have to regulate
the industry as much. Competitive pres-
sures lead to new innovations. The entire
wireless industry and especially consum-
ers would benefit by having a framework
for a competitive marketplace. CCA is fo-
cused on policy issues that will give these
consumers new product innovations, es-
pecially in those most difficult to reach,
hardest to build out and most difficult to
serve regions of the United States.
CCA is trying to find pathways for
our carriers to be able to continue to sur-
vive and hopefully thrive in the wireless
arena. Another advocacy area we have
been actively involved in is device un-
locking. CCA has long supported allow-
ing consumers to take the device of their
choosing to the carrier that best meets
their needs and desires. We took a strong
position, and were the first trade group to
support unlocking devices. I testified be-
