Communications Workers of America

In January 2018, T-Mobile acquired Iowa Wireless Services (iWireless), a regional carrier that provided postpaid and prepaid wireless service to approximately 75,000 customers in Iowa, western Illinois, and eastern Nebraska. Prior to the acquisition, iWireless had one of the largest retail footprints of any wireless carrier in Iowa, with 129 corporate and authorized dealer locations. iWireless was notable for its rural presence and for its affordable and flexible prepaid plans.

As the Communications Workers of America’s representative on the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee’s Model Code for Municipalities Working Group, I filed a letter on September 18, 2018, to express concern with the Federal Communications Commission’s draft order on streamlining wireless infrastructure deployment, which will be considered at the FCC's September 26, 2018 Open Meeting. The draft order is inconsistent with recommendations from the Model Code for Municipalities Working Group and is an overreach of federal authority.

In comments to the Federal Communications Commission, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) urged the FCC to raise its broadband speed benchmark from 25/3 Mbps to 100/10 Mbps. “The United States is falling behind other nations in terms of broadband speeds,” CWA’s comments read. “On the peak speeds global ranking, the US does not break the top-10.” “Part of the problem is our current broadband benchmark, which is insufficiently audacious and falls short of the Commission’s goals in the 2010 Broadband Plan,” the comments continue.

In advance of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the proposed T-Mobile-Sprint merger, the Communications Workers of America called on the companies to commit to protecting workers' rights and not eliminating jobs, and threatened to oppose the deal if they won't make that commitment. CWA conceded that the CEO of T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom, Tim Höttges, has said that the merger will create and repatriate jobs. But it wants that in a "binding" form at the Federal Communications Commission, which is vetting the deal along with the Department of Justice.

The Federal Communications Commission's Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) adopted a recommendation that would mandate the use of contractors to move telephone company equipment to make room for new attachers' equipment. This is work that is currently performed by trained, skilled, career employees at AT&T, Verizon, Frontier, and other employers. The BDAC recommendation threatens public safety.