CTIA Starting to Promote New Proposal for USF Reform
CTIA officials are promoting a new proposal for USF reform that combines the “numbers-based” approach to collections promoted by Chmn. Martin with a capacity-based assessment for large users. CTIA began circulating its version of USF reform the past few weeks, a spokesman said. CTIA Pres. Steve Largent highlighted the USF proposal Mon. during a lunch with reporters, calling it one of the Assn.’s top priorities.
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!
“We're working to be players” on USF, to get a more “equitable” return for wireless carriers, Largent said. Wireless carriers provide 34% of the support for USF while getting back only 12% of disbursements, he said. In meetings in recent weeks at the FCC, CTIA officials have laid out their proposal for changing how USF fees are assessed.
Under the CTIA approach, switched connections - standard residential phone lines, wireline and wireless -- would be assessed “one unit” in USF fees. But discounts would apply. For example, in wireless family plans, “extension” numbers beyond the primary line would be assessed 50% of a unit. Month-to-month and prepaid customers would also receive a 50% discount from the fees paid by other switched lines.
The 2nd piece of the CTIA plan addresses the sticky issue of making sure special access customers, businesses with multiple phone lines, pay their fair share to support USF. Here, CTIA became the first major industry group to endorse a tier approach that the FCC had floated in 2002 in a proposed rulemaking. CTIA suggests that the tiers be based on capacity of the lines serving the customer.
Businesses with a low-capacity T1 connection, for example, would pay lower fees, while those served by a fat broadband pipe would pay based on a higher multiplier. “You don’t want to create a situation where a large business customer gets a 90% reduction just because you switch from a revenue-based system,” said a source familiar with the CTIA plan. CTIA said in a recent filing its proposal provides “a sustainable and predictable universal service contribution base” that also ensures “all providers of interstate telecommunications contribute on an equitable and nondiscriminatory basis.”
In a wide-ranging media lunch, Largent and other CTIA officials also cited intercarrier compensation reform, spectrum issues and the threat of truth in billing regulation in the states as issues that loom large for wireless carriers. The officials said they're awaiting the text of a notice of proposed rulemaking on protecting customer proprietary network information (CPNI) before responding further (CD Feb 13 p1). On Fri., the FCC released a news release on the matter, but not the order. Largent said there’s “100% agreement” among CTIA members that govt. officials should “focus on the criminals” accused of stealing information through pretexting. “Let’s make it clear that this is illegal and should be punished to the fullest extent,” he said.