{mosads}Chabot noted that regional carriers rely on roaming agreements with national carriers to provide service when their customers travel outside of their service areas.

“If the merger goes through, a vast amount of the most valuable spectrum for deployment of advanced services will be controlled by one carrier,” Chabot wrote. “In addition, elimination of the alternative roaming partner for the regional and rural providers that utilize GSM technology will greatly impact the regional and rural wireless providers.”

Chabot said small carriers drive the economy through their investments in infrastructure and job creation. 

“The regional and rural carriers have become an important part of the competitive national wireless mosaic,” Chabot wrote.