Wireless service providers are also spending billions of dollars to improve network coverage, capacity and quality across the U.S. Wireless providers have invested more than $130 billion over the last six years alone, and once again, carriers of all sizes are focusing their efforts on providing the best networks they can for their consumers.
Smaller carriers such as Unicel and Cellular South are two examples of companies working hard to better serve rural communities. Unicel, a service of Rural Cellular Corporation, is investing $20 million to build a high-speed wireless network in Alabama, serving largely rural areas in the state. Cellular South, which serves customers in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee, invested $78 million in Mississippi alone, adding 200 new cell sites to its network across the state by the
end of 2006.
The substantial investments of service providers allow them to offer the vast majority of Americans the latest wireless products and features, ranging from mobile email and mobile internet access, to text messaging and video games.
Challenges of Improving Service in Rural Areas
Despite the remarkable advances wireless carriers have made in bringing the latest wireless services to rural Americans, there are still challenges. Regulatory obstacles often make deploying services in rural areas particularly difficult and can prevent consumers from fully benefiting from the variety of advantages wireless provides them. Regulations with a disproportionate impact on consumers in rural
areas include:
- Outdated universal service and intercarrier compensation systems
- Costly unfunded or underfunded government mandates
- Discriminatory taxation of wireless consumers
- Conflicting state laws and regulations
- Antenna and tower siting restrictions
Outdated Universal Service and Intercarrier Compensation Systems
The Universal Service Fund (USF) provides financial support to make communications available to high-cost areas, low income users, rural healthcare providers, and schools and libraries across the United States. There’s little doubt the USF has played a major role in improving access to wireless service, particularly in rural areas of the country. For instance, Alltel was able to apply universal service funds for the provision of service on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. With the assistance of universal service funds, Alltel was able to more than quadruple the number of subscribers receiving telecom services on the reservation.
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