State regulators and FCC are too quick to give wireless competito...
State regulators and FCC are too quick to give wireless competitors right to obtain universal service funding, OPASTCO said in White Paper released at its annual convention in Maui. “High-cost universal service support is not a subsidy program” and…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
regulators shouldn’t designate competitors as eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) without being sure it’s in public interest, paper said. Otherwise, universal service fund will be jeopardized because there won’t be enough money to support it, OPASTCO said. High-cost universal service support going to wireless ETCs has grown to projected $100 million in 2003 from less than $500,000 in 1999, paper said: “It is estimated that if all wireless providers nationwide were granted ETC status that the annual funding level of the USF would grow by approximately $2 billion. Clearly, an increase of this magnitude would not be sustainable… Rural ILECs are the only providers of ubiquitous, high-quality, facilities-based service throughout their respective service areas. Thus, if rural ILECs lose the ability or incentive to continue investing in their networks -- or worse yet, if their existence is placed at risk -- then some rural areas may be deprived of basic universal service.” Paper said regulators had been placing competition above public service and “competition is not always in the public interest.” First priority should be to deliver service to high-cost areas, paper said -- www.opastco.org.