The The Rural Cellular Association (RCA) has long fought to end to exclusive handset agreements, arguing that the steep prices smaller carriers have to pay for handsets like the iPhone put them on an uneven playing field. Companies like C Spire have paid a steep price in the form of delayed LTE deployments, and most smaller companies can't afford the price of entry at all. However the RCA appears to be picking its battles carefully, announcing they'll stop fighting over exclusive handsets arranagements in order to focus on interoperability in the Lower 700 MHz band.

Verizon's and AT&T's LTE networks are not compatible, with Verizon's network running mostly in the 746-787MHz range, while AT&T's operating primarily in the 704-746MHz range. Verizon's spectrum only slightly overlaps AT&T's, so you can't take devices from one carrier to another.

Smaller carriers including MetroPCS, C Spire, and the Rural Cellular Association have been pushing the FCC to consider new rules that would make the entire 700MHz band interoperable, in order to aid competitor LTE roaming and help the public-safety community. They partially got their wish, with the FCC announcing they'd explore rules that would at least make the lower portion of the 700MHz band interoperable.

In a new filing with the FCC, the RCA says that they're giving up their focus on ending exclusive handset contracts in order to spend more of their time fighting for 700 MHz interoperability. While the group says exclusive handsets continue to "harm competition and impede the ability of wireless carriers to compete with AT&T and Verizon," new interoperability rules would cast a broader problem solving net for smaller, more rural cell carriers.

"Importantly, ensuring interoperability also will have a positive impact on the availability of cutting-edge devices that consumers demand and that competitive carriers require to compete effectively with the largest super-carriers, because the absence of interoperability has been a significant impediment (along with exclusivity) in smaller carriers' ability to obtain access to the latest handsets," the RCA said in their filing.

Handset exclusivity has fallen by the wayside as the consumer issue du jour as AT&T's initial stranglehold on the iPhone was broken. As for allowing LTE handsets to work across carriers to improve roaming and competition, that's an issue you can expect AT&T and Verizon to fight tooth and nail against in order to retain and protect market power. Even with a more focused fight on their plate, the RCA looks to have their hands full, especially if the FCC teeters toward the incompetent with the whole affair.