or training delivered by CCA’s partner NTCI, the association ensures that rural and regional providers have access to the same depth of knowledge as their national competitors. The Business and Innovation Group is particularly influential, merging technical expertise with operational insight. Conversation topics range from fiber backhaul and tower management to customer acquisition strategies and competitive positioning in increasingly blended wireless-fiber markets. With mobile and fiber operators now using overlapping technologies, convergence has made cross-sector collaboration more important than ever. SHAPING THE FUTURE OF CONNECTIVITY Looking ahead, CCA is positioning its members for both opportunity and risk. Ensuring stable support programs, streamlining permitting, and securing competitive access to spectrum remain top priorities. But Donovan is equally focused on the next wave of innovation—from telehealth and precision agriculture to the AI-driven applications that will define the coming decade. “The industry reinvents itself about every ten years,” he reflects. “When I joined telecom, the top-selling device was the BlackBerry. We weren’t even in the App Store era yet. Phones were still fundamentally telephony devices. Today they’re everything—video, apps, data, communications—and AI is accelerating that transformation.” For Donovan, the excitement is personal as well as professional. A self-described technology enthusiast, he views the ongoing evolution of devices and networks with fascination. The possibility of screenless,AI-native devices—like those envisioned by Jony Ive’s design team—signals an entirely new chapter in mobility and connectivity, one that will rely heavily on the robust rural networks CCA members build and maintain. Membership growth is a key focus for the association. As the lines blur between mobile, fiber, and fixed wireless, CCA is actively expanding its base to represent the full spectrum of local, community195 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 13, ISSUE 01 COMPETITIVE CARRIERS ASSOCIATION
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