tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. >> up next, the communicators with competitive carriers association present stephen bury. he talks about the future of wireless commissions and the sec's option. after that, first ladies, influence and image. today's spotlight is on eleanor roosevelt. and later, house members paying tribute to the lake min bill young who passed away last week at the age of 82. created by america's cable companies in 1979, but to you -- brought to you as a public service from your television providers. >> this week, we are joined by stephen berry, president and ceo of the competitive carriers association. will come.

-- welcome. we are also joined by paul doug delgado. to start with, the competitive carriers association, how do you describe it? >> everyone other than the two largest wireless carriers -- there's over 100 wireless carriers in the united states and we represent sprint, t- mobile, all the way down to the smallest carriers in the united states. normaly not be your household names, but in the areas that they serve, they are very important to the community. they are community-based and small businesses. so we have 100 carriers, some even outside united states. and we also service almost 200 associate members. those are small businesses who make up the ecosystem that support wireless carriers in the united states. >> why is it important to have a service directed to those types of customers rather than have

them go to verizon or to at&t, carriers that most people would know about? >> he'd probably know that consumers like choice and choice has many benefits him including price points. in small areas, in rural areas in the united it's coming the regional markets, the small carrier may be the only carrier that is willing to build out that last mile or two miles or 10 miles so that their service to the population in that area. there is service to the population in that area. so they are very important to the customer and they distinguish themselves with -- reallyh values high value service. >> your basin washington, d.c. why? >> weaver present the competitive carriers before the sec, the hill and the executive branch we focus on policies that are crippled to their well- being. >> so if you had to define the

top three policies of interest to you, what would those be? >> competition is really the heart and soul of many of these issues. interoperability, which we can talk about in a little while, is very wasn't it. but access to spectrum, access to devices, access to networks, inse will all be critical puts to allowing a competitive carrier to continue to thrive and actually provide customers with the type of services and unique quality of service that they have become accustomed to. >> let's pick it up from here. >> one of the house issues you mentioned is interoperability. why is that important to your members? >> it is a huge issue, something we have been fighting for for almost four years.

i guess interoperability, the areto say it is that we billing for multiple carriers to be able to interface with each other with common devices that operate in the same spectrum. the largest carriers, for example, at&t and verizon, have scope and scale and have the ability to go to the manufacturers and say i want us to vice built that operates on my bedroom. smaller carriers, in the past, have always enjoyed the benefits of interoperability. and from the beginning of the wireless world, in 1984 to 1985, when the first 50 megahertz of spectrum was split and given to incumbents and the new innovators, interoperability was a requirement. requirement to be a in the aws spectrum in the tcs spectrum. and i think we got away from sound not only business but public policy spectrum

management concepts, and her operability in the 700 megahertz bactrim auction in 2006. and it has been critical to the small carriers because you don't have scope or scale. we are talking about carriers that have fewer than 1000 or so customers in these rural areas. you can't get devices. you can provide service. and then, if you have devices that don't operate or does not operate on the largest carriers networks, then you don't have a national system. everyone, small as they may be, has to provide a national product. wherever you go in the united states come you want to make it: you want to make sure that that call goes through. there is no technological reason that that can't happen. but through business decisions in the largest carriers with their dominance in the marketplace, they can make decisions that really impair small carriers from getting access to their networks and

toiously they would not want roam on the small carriers. and that is what we're looking for, surround -- looking for, sound spectrum policy. it is a taxpayer-owned resource and we believe it benefits the economy and society as a whole. if you have access to that benefitsin a way that the consumer. >> recently come at&t agreed to voluntarily work towards interoperability in the 700 megahertz spectrum band, which would allow your customers to roam on at&t's network and allow your members to begin building out their lte device portfolio, if you will. tell us about how this will affect your members going forward. is this a good solution at this point? i think it is a very positive solution.

a lot of credit goes to .hairwoman if she had not said that it would be a solution one way or the other and rolled up her sleeves and got into the middle of it, really, display of leadership to find a solution that was business-based, that would allow the small carriers to unleash the spectrum that they had already bought. there's over $2 billion with the spectrum that smaller guys purchased and they were able to unleash that spectrum and exit provide services to 4g, high- speed and mobile phone services around america. and chairwoman clyburn said we will fix that. with a lot of encouragement, we did. we found a solution. my hat is off to her. that reallyemma

impeded the quality of service for many consumers all over the united states. i think and i hope that we learned something from that. while you tried to put interoperability back into the game plan of 700 megahertz, i hope that interoperability will be sort of the stable of the 600 megahertz option that we think is in the set of options coming up. thisd the sec say whether was a stepping stone for for the relation or awesome will direct action via the sec before they would go ahead and do it they did? think the chairwoman statement that there had to be a solution was really the catalyst that said, ok, let's find a solution that works both for at&t and the smaller carriers. that is -- and in a fashion that

is system not -- and a fashion that is economically sustainable and that the result is interoperability. so i don't think it would have happened without chairwoman clybourn. >> how was this treated in the past as an issue? neglect. lot of i'm not particularly pleased the way it was addressed. the longer it went on, the more difficult it was to solve. and when we filed the original , had the sec acted then, it would have been far easier to say, no, we meant operability, an option was backed and there is a story to this. everybody thought there would he interoperability like in the past. and at&t and verizon went to the standard setting body called the 3gpp which sets the technology

standards. he went to that body and said we want standards that are unique to our particular band. so they created their own boutique band with. that was not sound spectrum management. they allowed the private sector, in this case, the two largest carriers, to uniquely classify the spectrum in ways that essentially foreclosed other small carriers from getting access to devices and the entire system that provides that four g lte next generation technology. churchmen? -- who is the chairman? >> it was jenna caskey. i met with him several times. -- it was jenowk owski.

i met with him several times. chairwoman clyburn said this is not acceptable. >> are you confident that this development between at&t and other industry players, this agreement of sorts, could become the norm for interop or ability in other spectrum? that'spe, like a said like i said, that we have learned from this and interoperability will be sort of the trademark of blocks of spectrum that are made available as we go forward. critical tohertz is every carrier out there. obligation, values, characteristics, it penetrates buildings and rural and urban areas you needed to get into the basements and the hard-to-reach areas -- so i hope that we have made some progress there. people say i know many

realize how difficult it was, like i said, to put humpty act together. so hopefully, we will have up her ability -- interoperability from the get-go. they are in the throes of finalizing rules for the first- ever incentive auction of thetrum which involves broadcasters selling spectrum to then the sec selling it to wireless carriers. should the fcc wrist hurt participation of the largest carriers in the auction? >> i think the conners got it right when they authorized the sec to create a competitive auction. now has to take that mandate and create a competitive option. our belief is that every carrier should be able to bid in this auction. large carriers and small carriers. and we should be able to aid in bid spectrum auction -- to

in that spectrum auction with large geographic licenses so that small carriers are not forced out of auction because they cannot afford huge blocks of spectrum. with that, we believe that every carrier should be able to bid. even right here at this table, just a few weeks ago, the commissioner said that she said that no one or two carriers should be able to walk away with an entire spectrum auction. i entirely agree. andsec has this authority hopefully the willpower power to ensure that not one or two carriers will take this entire pie. led.pectrum is the life if you're a small carrier inroad american you don't have enough spectrum to deploy a robust 4g

are at anlogy, you economic disadvantage and appealed to compete. one of the -- and not be able to compete. tax relief ofss 2012 ensure that competition and preserving and promoting competition was one of the requirements of the sec. i hope they take it to heart. chairwoman clyburn and the new chairperson coming in, mr. tom realer, they have a challenge to create a framework for competitive policy good >> use of the word hope -- repetitive policy. >> you said the word hope twice. are you skeptical? >> we just went through four years of pretty aggressive efforts to ensure that we return the 700 megahertz to

interoperability and we will surereally hard to make the 600 is interoperable. it's critical if you're going to have multiple choices in the marketplace for the consumer. is a tough road to hoe. accesssure that we have to spectrum and that there's a fair and responsible way to get access to networks, this is i he transition -- i think commissioner pi was quoted in his confirmation hearing saying that there is no reason why the basic underlying concepts of conductivity should be -- of connectivity should be changed just because of technology. we agree with that. is reason why i say hope that their are at least two companies out there that have taken positions that are fairly

disparate to the position we have taken on all of these issues. thatart from the position none of us really like over burdensome regulation. enjoy the're going to benefits of the competitive market, then you have to at least have the referee on the field blowing the whistle when a fair assessment of public policy that ensures a competitive market place. >> you talked about chairwoman clyburn before. do you think that she will show a strong hand in this case as well? >> i think that she is a very proconsumer person at heart. before she was chairwoman and after, shei'm sure will continue to have the same convictions. and i think the new chairman

coming in, tom wheeler, is so inclined also. thes lucky enough to have opportunity to work for him for six years. iran the legislative shop for him when he was on the trade association. verynk you will be proactive and i think him on the policy side, on the competition side, he is for competition in the marketplace and proconsumer. >> you're watching "the communicators." our guest is stephen berry. >> you mentioned competition. we have seen the wireless industry and ago consolidation. we have seen smaller carriers partner with other smaller

carriers and bigger carriers and partner with other bigger carriers. we have seen secondary market spectrum transaction. do you see this trend of industry consolidation continuing? >> that is a tough question. yes i know. one of the reasons it is occurring is the lack of spectrum availability. nemesis 2006 where we have had spectrum come to the marketplace. it will be a decade before we low band spectrum available. and i think that is a lot of pressure, especially on the leaders in the market, to ensure that they need to top off the tank. and when they do that, they seem to pick on some of the larger tier two carriers. if you look at the marketplace, we have lost a half a dozen tier two carriers in the marketplace

that have been value priced providers, that have been innovators in the market. the first 4g lte network was ruled out by metro pcs, not at&t and verizon. innovative all-you-can't- these were weekends, the innovators. and it does disturb me that we have lost four or five 22 carriers in the last -- for five tier two carriers in the last few months. two years ago, you had a very healthy tier to market and it was not this huge disparity between five of the largest two carriers and the sub -- and the other carriers. you had partners that you could i hand sets with. you had access to critical inputs to run a wireless

business. greatly.it concerns me we have to think about -- how far do you want us to go? at to wireless carriers the control nearly 70% of the market. -- two largest out of omega the to adjust automobile -- the two largest automobile makers control 45% of the market. it is a big difference. what will happen, in those areas that are the least profitable, in that instance come it means the rural and regional markets, there will not be a lot of incentive to build out that network and provide that service to the customers in role america. we did a study in about a year

or so ago that showed, in rural america, if you were to build out mobile high-speed internet, it would create in the 14 states that have less than 14% penetration 14,000 jobs alone. what it showed an increase in the median income in the state as much as 5%. what we're talking about his economic growth. we are talking about jobs. and i would say that most of our carriers, even the largest two carriers are small businesses in many respects. >> how are they changing their business plans to remain competitive? >> quite friendly, you have to get to the 4g lte network because it is more efficient give it is a must five times more efficient and you have to get spectrum. megahertzo get 600 spectrum because the spectrum itself makes you more efficient your white -- more efficient.

why? the 600 megahertz times less four expensive and makes you more efficient. the technology of the 4g lte makes you more efficient currency have to get 4g and you have to get there when the larger carriers are there. when everyone goes to the , that is all data can it may be voice, but it is fun, it is data. if you are not there, you will not be able to compete. -- it may be voice, but it is all data. not there, you will not be able to compete. to be able to press these procompetitive framework issues all the way through to

completion. >> and can smaller carrier survive without access to the household names, the iphone, the samsung galaxy? can, but with great sacrifice in the marketplace. we have seen it. cellular in almost herculean efforts has a device that can work on broadband 12. no one else had that at the time. it was a huge risk. to roll out 4g knowing that the device you are rolling out would not connect to a large carrier. that is a good example of what it takes to stay competitive. we have talked to apple on

numerous occasions and said why is it that it took four years for apple to make its device available to other carriers? there are a lot of small carriers that would have -- that would love to have been apple device because it makes them competitive in the market. the same thing with the galaxy and the edge and those products. we just did a study, a survey that is made available at our show a few weeks ago. and it showed that consumers are very fixated on this device. a majority of the consumers will ask to the device is much they will look to the carrier they choose. outother thing we found which at that was revealing is that, in rural america and even in areas where the relative

income is low, the consumer is low, the consumers willing to pay for the high-end device, willing to pay for the smartphone. it isn't sure sting because, in many of those households, that smartphone, the handheld device is their access to the internet. >> is the price competitive the at&t andhat -- offer?or >> it could be much higher than in a lot of parts because of the and thedifferential subsidy. you have to get access to the devices that are economically competitive. and we are working on that. one of the things we do come in addition to being the advocacy board, we are looking at business solutions. one of the business solutions we can do to help her carry us address some of the issues --

for example, we created a handset buying consortium for smaller carriers who could not devices and pool them a larger number so they can get better prices. and we like to do that on the high-end apple phones. that is not in the apple lexicon. working with other people, they have their own unique way of selling their device. but the bottom line is we tried to find ways that we can make sure our carriers can compete. the other thing we kicked off is a data roaming hub. we are gating are -- we're getting our carriers together and t-mobile interested in helping us. we can help connect our smaller ,arriers through data roaming i.e. data access, so they can stableir economically

prices for roaming and conductivity. -- and connectivity. and down the road we have ip and ip transition. >> you mentioned tch working on solutions. isn't there a need for government intervention in manufacturing? >> i think it would be a very healthy discussion if the fcc thisto say why is technology denial happening in the smaller market? let's face it. is denial can some of the low- households are using their smart phones as their access to the internet. thing may be the only that they can afford. they may not be able to afford the computer and the fiber to the home. handsets that operate on a 4g lte system which is much asked her is a critical

andent to job creation economic prosperity in these smaller markets. yes come i think the sec should at least take a look -- yes, i think the sec should at least take a look. we have a handful that dominate the market. quite friendly, in many instances, they tell at&t and verizon what they will and will not do. it is a new issue that i think the sec has some authority to say let's take a look at this and i think it would be a good thing for everyone. >> our guest this week has been president and the ceo of the competitive carriers association. thank you for watching "the communicators."

created by american cable companies in 1979, brought to you as a public service by your television provider. >> on the next "washington journal," the book opinion and politics after the government shutdown. followed by a preview next week congressional negotiations on a five-year farm bill with alan. . afghanistan ast the united states gets ready to withdraw next year. we are joined by the brookings institution's michael hanlon. washington journal, live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> c-span, we bring public affairs event's in washington to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings and conferences in offering complete gavel-two-gavel coverage of the

u.s. house, all as a public service by public it -- by private industry. c-span, traded by the cable industry 34 years ago and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. and now you can watch us on hd. first a few moments, " ladies come influence and image "firstte with a focus -- ladies, influence and image was quote with an emphasis on eleanor roosevelt. >> good evening, ladies and gentlemen. i am speaking to tonight at a very serious moment in our history.