Washington, D.C., – The following statement can be attributed to Rural Wireless Association, Inc. (“RWA”) General Counsel, Carri Bennet:

“RWA respectfully disagrees with the Commission on the point of rewarding Bresnan in this case.  Bresnan warehoused valuable low band spectrum for over eight years before selling it to T-Mobile at the eleventh hour.  This behavior should not have been rewarded and RWA reiterates its concern that this decision will now allow other licensees to sit on valuable spectrum, cash out at the last minute and then extend the license’s build out obligations simply by transferring the license to another entity.  While T-Mobile made promises to build out the licenses, those promises have not yet been fulfilled and we will not know whether T-Mobile can do it until the extension deadlines have come and gone.  What we do know, thanks to RWA’s efforts, is that T-Mobile must file a marker showing its coverage as of June 13, 2017. This filing will hold T-Mobile’s feet to the fire to meet its obligations for each of the three licenses. Failure to do so means T-Mobile’s licenses will be reduced to the coverage it had as of June 13, 2017.  You can rest assured that RWA and its members in Montana and Wyoming will be paying extremely close attention to T-Mobile’s future progress.”