Cricket Communications today became the latest carrier to sign on to the Rural Cellular Association (RCA), which frequently takes policy stances diametrically opposed to AT&T and Verizon Wireless. 

The prepaid provider's membership was announced one week after T-Mobile USAsaid it had joined the RCA, adding to the trade group's lobbying clout on Capitol Hill.  

The RCA is “uniquely positioned” to deal with policy issues like spectrum auctions and roaming policies that are “critical to Cricket’s continued success,” said Rob Irving, senior vice president of general counsel and secretary for Cricket and parent company Leap Wireless International, in a statement. 

Irving has been appointed to RCA's board of directors, and Leap President and CEO Doug Hutcheson will speak at the group's spring conference next week in Orlando, Fla.  

RCA has positioned itself as the trade association for all U.S. wireless operators except AT&T and Verizon, whom it refers to as the "Twin Bells" and has characterized as a "duopoly."  

The group got its start representing regional providers, but its willingness to take on the nation's top two operators has attracted an increasing number of companies with larger customer bases.  Top issues include an end to exclusive handset deals, like AT&T’s multi-year hold on the iPhone, interoperability in the 700 MHz band and mandatory data roaming agreements. 

Sprint, which is also a member of CTIA, became an RCA member last spring after AT&T announced its plans to buy T-Mobile USA. Both Sprint and the RCA were vocal opponents to the transaction.  

CTIA, whose members include AT&T and Verizon, did not take a stance on the merger. It has also remained neutral on other contentious issues where there is disagreement between its larger and smaller members, such as data roaming. 

Cricket, Sprint and T-Mobile all hold dual memberships in both CTIA and the RCA.