WISPAPALOOZA Show Daily Day 1

www. WISPA .org 3 www.bekabusinessmedia.com DAY 1 (WISPA Story continued, page 1) Claude Aiken President & CEO 866-317-2851 ext 101 caiken@wispa.org Trina Coffey Vice President of Events & Operations 260-622-5775 866-317-2851 ext 102 tcoffey@wispa.org Arielle Coffey Events & Member Relations Associate 260-622-5773 866-317-2851 ext 100 arielle@wispa.org Gary Helmers Sales/Membership Coordinator 260-622-5774 866-317-2851 ext 103 ghelmers@wispa.org Will Peterson Marketing Associate 260-622-5772 866-317-2851 ext 104 wpeterson@wispa.org Richard Bernhardt National Spectrum Adviser 260-622-5627 866-317-2851 ext 105 rbernhardt@wispa.org Martin Vilaboy Editor-in-Chief martin@bekabusinessmedia.com Percy Zamora Art Director percy@bekabusinessmedia.com Berge Kaprelian Group Publisher berge@bekabusinessmedia.com Rene Galan Associate Publisher rene@bekabusinessmedia.com Anthony Graffeo Associate Publisher anthony@bekabusinessmedia.com Matt O’Brien Multimedia Specialist matt@bekabusinessmedia.com While pleased that the FCC is moving forward with rules, and that those rules reject the ill- conceived idea of auctioning Priority Access Licenses (PALs) at the Partial Economic Area (PEA) level, “the combination of county-sized licenses – especially where they are subject to package bidding – plus long license terms and renewability will shut out a significant number of our members from using licensed CBRS spec- trum to deliver affordable, reliable broadband services to under-served rural areas.” Aiken is also pleased that the proposed rules will grant bidding credits to small busi- nesses and rural broadband providers, with hope that these auction mechanisms will enable meaningful participation from WISPA members, the vast majority of which will be entitled to those benefits. Across the nation, an estimated 24 million Americans – mostly in rural areas – lack access to even one choice for fixed terrestrial broad- band at the FCC’s benchmark speed of 25 Mbps/3Mbps, explained Aiken. “The CBRS band – and other mid-band airwaves – are the best opportunities we will see in a generation to address that problem. But those will be missed opportunities if the FCC continues with this plan, which is heavily biased toward large companies focusing on urban areas.” WISPA and its allies consistently have argued against county-sized licenses, as many contain both densely populated urban areas and less populated suburban and rural areas, and outlying areas in such counties are generally ignored by the larger carriers today (unless subsidies are attached). Such areas will remain ignored under this new proposal, said Aiken.  A diverse coalition of users offered a compro- mise solution to the FCC in May that would have preserved two PALs in every census tract nationwide, down from seven today, while creating five PALs in every county, explained Aiken. “We called for seven-year terms and renewability based on performance criteria. We are displeased that the FCC did not accept this broadly-supported solution,” he said. There is still time to amend this proposal before a Commission vote later this month. “WISPA will continue to engage with the Commissioners and their staffs to seek changes to the draft item and advocate for build-out and auction rules that will truly unlock the potential of this band to enable rural broadband deployment and competition,” concluded Aiken. m W ISPA proudly noted earlier this year that six of its member companies have been included on the 2018 edition of the “INC 5000” list of the fastest-growing companies in America. This WISPA half dozen further illustrates how fixed-wireless broadband is one of the fastest-growing areas in the telecom landscape. Congratulations go to: • AeroNet (#4932) in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico; • All Points Broadband (#330) in Leesburg, Va.; • GeoLinks (#786) in Camarillo, Calif.; • JMF Solutions (#2394) in Daphne, Ala.; • Millennium (#4263) in Delavan, Wis; and • Peak Internet (#3584) in Woodland Park, Colo. WISPA Represented on ‘INC 5000’