The FCC could ‘come under heavy pressure from lawmakers to back a...

report. The proposal released late Fri. sought to curtail the burgeoning increase in demand on the Universal Service Fund (USF), fueled in part by the growth of competition from wireless providers. The action means the current situation in which USF support can go to multiple lines and multiple carriers no longer would exist. The board offered the FCC suggestions for easing the plan’s impact on rural telephone companies: (1) “Restate” existing USF support for rural LECs (RLECs) based on primary lines so they wouldn’t lose support at first. (2) Order lump sum payments for RLECs so they would be kept whole at first. In both cases, RLECs would lose support only as they lost primary lines to competitors. (3) Freeze the per-line support available to competitors but “hold harmless” the RLECs so they don’t lose funding. FCC Comr. Martin had said his support for the primary line restriction was contingent on adopting the hold-harmless approach. The primary line plan was criticized by both competitors and RLECs. Western Wireless said the proposal would create “huge implementation difficulties” and was “antithetical” to the Telecom Act’s goals. The National Telecommunications Co-op Assn. (NTCA) said limiting universal service support to a single line “is not the right way to control the growth of the fund.” NTCA said “better management” could accomplish the same end: “All carriers should demonstrate their costs and receive support based on those actual costs.” NECA Pres. Bob Anderson said he was concerned that providing support to only one line would “seriously disrupt the flow of revenue to rural telephone companies.” He said rural companies depended on universal service revenue to provide services such as broadband: “Without these revenues it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for these companies to continue providing the telecommunications services that their customers are now receiving.”