Chairman’s Letter, July 2010

Ron Smith
Chairman of the Board, Rural Cellular Association
President, Bluegrass Cellular, Inc.

RCA always strives to provide a number of benefits to our membership, and one significant goal for this year is the publication of RCA’s Benchmarking and Analysis Report.  This past fall, the Board of Directors approved the creation of a confidential, double-blind benchmark survey, which will be of enormous value to all RCA members.  The survey was formally launched on May 14, 2010 and as the August 16 deadline nears, I would like to reemphasize the importance of the survey.

In establishing the benchmark survey, the Board’s primary concern was that it be completely confidential.  It is designed to gather key information and metrics for the benefit of all members, and it is divided into six sections: Company Information, Company Financials, Subscriber Metrics, Network Technology and Traffic, Products and Operations and Regulatory.  Information inserted in the Company Information section will be sent to RCA to be included in the Membership Directory 2010/2011 which will be published in August.  Data entered in all other sections is being gathered by a third-party auditor who will remove any and all company-specific information from your survey response.  Your information will remain confidential and will not be shared with RCA or any other outside party.

Carrier Members are completing the survey, but it will be useful for all members, Associate and Affiliate Members as well.  Many of the RCA members use this information to help manage their companies, and the data collected in the survey will allow you to compare your own internal data and aggregate statistics.  The information also will support RCA’s efforts on your behalf as RCA meets with regulators and legislators in Washington, DC.  Many RCA members participated in Capitol Hill Day, and there is significant value in having presentation materials containing tables, charts and graphs when educating policymakers on the issues most important to rural and regional carriers.  Visual representation of the aggregated data will better help demonstrate the challenges that our members face.  It is a busy time in Washington, and the more information we have on issues such as data roaming, handset exclusivity and the need for interoperability in all bands of 700 MHz spectrum, the better our chances for success.

I urge all Carrier Members to begin filling out the benchmark survey if you have not already done so.  It covers several areas of your businesses, and the deadline will be here shortly.  RCA hosted a webinar on June 8 to help answer members’ questions regarding the survey, and materials from the webinar can be found on RCA’s website.

Please do not hesitate to contact the RCA staff if you have any questions regarding the survey or how to correctly complete each section.  RCA is happy to help answer questions or put you in contact with the third party auditor in order to maintain your confidentiality.  Thank you to all Carrier Members for taking the time to complete this important initiative; I am confident that it will benefit our membership and help us achieve success.