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 SEPARATE  STATEMENT  OF  CHAIRMAN  MICHAEL  K.  POWELL 
 Re:  Facilitating  the  Provision  of  Spectrum-  Based  Services  to  Rural  Areas  and  Promoting  Opportunities  for  Rural  Telephone  Companies  to  Provide  Spectrum-  Based  Services  (WT  Docket 
 No.  02-  38);  et  al.,  Report  and  Order  and  Further  Notice  of  Proposed  Rulemaking.  (Adopted  July  8,  2004). 


 Encouraging  increased  development  and  deployment  of  spectrum-  based  services  to  rural  areas  is  vital  to  achieve  the  Commission’s  dual  objectives  of  promoting  increased  facilities-  based 
 competition  and  providing  ubiquitous,  affordable  broadband  services  to  all  Americans.  Today’s  Agenda  Meeting  focuses  on  providing  carriers  sufficient  incentives,  financing  opportunities,  and 
 access  to  spectrum  to  deploy  inexpensive  wireless  services  in  rural  areas. 
 I  remain  committed  to  facilitating  wireless  services  to  rural  areas  thereby  enabling  Americans,  regardless  of  where  they  travel,  reside,  or  conduct  business,  to  communicate 
 effectively.  The  importance  of  this  objective  becomes  clear  when  one  realizes  that  of  the  3,200  counties  in  America,  approximately  72  percent  are  rural  and  that  21  percent  of  all  Americans 
 reside  in  these  rural  counties.  These  Americans  are  entitled  to  the  same  benefits  and  choices  as  those  residing  in  urban  or  populated  areas.  In  recent  visits  to  Tennessee  and  South  Dakota,  I  saw 
 first  hand  the  transformative  power  that  broadband  communications  access  can  have  in  rural  America.  Economic  development,  education,  and  health  care  can  benefit  when  our  rural 
 communities  get  connected. 
 Today’s  Order  adopts  initiatives  and  policies  aimed  directly  at  facilitating  access  to  capital  and  lowering  regulatory  and  market  barriers  to  spectrum  and  infrastructure  in  rural  areas. 
 Giving  rural  licensees  the  option  of  granting  the  Department  of  Agriculture’s  Rural  Utilities  Service  a  conditional  security  interest  in  their  spectrum  licenses  will  greatly  enhance  the 
 licensees’  financing  opportunities.  By  eliminating  the  absolute  bar  against  rural  cellular  cross-interests  and  transitioning  to  a  case-  by-  case  review  of  rural  license  transfers,  the  Commission  can 
 more  effectively  guard  against  anticompetitive  transactions  without  prohibiting  transactions  that  are  in  the  public  interest.  This  Order  also  relaxes  build-  out  and  emissions  requirements  for  rural 
 carriers,  which  will  increase  the  flexibility  of  licensees  to  tailor  spectrum-  based  services  to  the  needs  of  their  customers  located  in  sparsely  populated  areas. 


 In  an  increasingly  mobile  world,  Americans  demand  seamless  and  reliable  wireless  services.  Through  the  adoption  of  this  Order  and  our  complementary  actions  in  the  Secondary 
 Markets  and  Unlicensed  Devices  proceedings,  we  are  bolstering  this  objective  by  enhancing  licensees  financing  opportunities,  streamlining  secondary  market  transactions,  and  encouraging 
 increased  competition  to  advance  the  interests  of  rural  America. 
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