RURAL TELEPHONE EXECUTIVES LOBBY CAPITOL HILL
OPASTCO members from rural telephone companies throughout the country are lobbying on Capitol Hill this week to urge 3 things: Changes to the universal service program, a delay in VoIP legislation and repeal of the estate tax. “The message you're taking to Capitol Hill will directly impact your companies’ future, the viability of your communities and the ability of your customers to have modern service,” OPASTCO Pres. John Rose told more than 130 members Tues. at a morning briefing before the Hill visits: “Go to the Hill and deliver the message for rural areas.”
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OPASTCO members will be pushing 4 positions on universal service reform, OPASTCO Govt. Relations Dir. Stuart Polikoff said: (1) Congress should voice “strong disapproval” of the recommendation by the Federal-State Joint Board to restrict universal service funding to one “primary” phone line per customer. The FCC has a year to consider the Joint Board’s recommendation, which was made in Feb. “Let your representative know that limiting support for primary lines would be awful for rural America,” said Polikoff.
(2) Congress should urge the FCC to adopt a universal service funding methodology for CLECs that’s based on their own costs rather than the costs of the ILECs they compete against. In rural areas, CLECs receive the same per-line support amount as the ILEC receives, which Polikoff said is a drain on the Universal Service Fund (USF). The Joint Board didn’t make a recommendation on this issue and it appears the FCC doesn’t plan to act on it right away, he said. OPASTCO will ask Hill members to urge the FCC to rethink that position and act sooner on the issue, Polikoff said.
(3) The Telecom Act should be amended to assess both intrastate and interstate revenue for contributions to the USF. Only interstate revenue is assessed now. (4) The base of contributors should be broadened to include “all facilities-based broadband Internet access providers,” including cable modem and other broadband platforms. Wireline carriers already are required to contribute on the revenue they gain from DSL offerings. Polikoff said requiring others to contribute on their broadband services would be more revenue neutral. Also, it’s getting hard to identify interstate revenue because carriers are bundling services or offering distance-neutral service, he said.
OPASTCO members will argue on the Hill that it’s “premature” to enact VoIP legislation “that may restrict ILECs from assessing access charges on VoIP providers,” said Steve Pastorkovich, OPASTCO’s dir.-business development. He said a bill by Sen. Sununu (R-N.H.) has such a restriction and the house version sponsored by Rep. Pickering (R-Miss.) has similar, though less strong, language. Legislation on VoIP should wait until the FCC can conduct “fuller debate” as part of pending proceedings at the agency, Pastorkovich said.
On another broadband issue, the rural telco executives will urge Congress to “encourage” the FCC to retain a pooling option for rural ILECs if DSL is reclassified as an information service. Many rural ILECs participate in optional revenue pools administered by the National Exchange Carrier Assn. in which all participants charge a uniform tariffed rate based on their combined average costs. OPASTCO members also were urging Congress to provide tax credits, grants and low-cost loans for broadband network upgrades as well as accelerated depreciation for broadband infrastructure investments.
The rural telco executives also will seek support for permanently repealing the estate tax, which is slated to go back into effect in 2010 when a moratorium runs out. Estate tax hits family-owned companies hard, said OPASTCO Legislative Dir. Randy Tyree. Families must resort to expensive tax planning to avoid liquidation of their businesses in the event of a death, he said. Estate tax planning detracts from resources a small company could devote to updated services, Tyree said. When a small company owner dies and the children must sell the business to pay taxes, the entire community suffers because of lost jobs, Tyree said.