CTIA, which views USF as one of the most significant regulatory i...

be not to give an advantage to some carriers at the expense of others. The FCC in Dec. sought comment on how to change its rules after the 10th U.S. Appeals Court, Denver, twice remanded the FCC rules for high-cost support, most recently a year ago. “It’s a serious flaw with the current system that it’s based on what carriers spend and not necessarily on where they provide service or who they are providing service to,” Paul Garnett, dir. of regulatory policy at CTIA, said Tues. at the Catholic U. symposium on telecom. “You can end up with a carrier in a very urban or suburban area that happens to spend a lot of money, gets access to high cost universal service support, then have another carrier… that offers service in very rural areas and gets absolutely no universal service support.” Garnett said the CTIA spent about a year developing its numbers-based proposal on USF reform, which represents the group’s “very diverse” membership. “Basing all high-cost universal service support on efficient costs is long overdue,” CTIA said. “Whatever changes are made to the underlying mechanisms, the FCC must ensure that universal service support continues to be distributed in both a competitively- and technologically- neutral manner, as required by the [Telecom] Act. That way, consumers, and not state or federal regulators, will determine who competes for and delivers services to them.” CTIA said the FCC should adopt a “single, simplified, and unified support mechanism,” replacing the 5 high-cost mechanisms now in place. Wireless carriers believe they don’t get their fair share of USF money, the Assn. said, with wireless carriers responsible for some 34% of contributions to universal service, while receiving only about 12% of payments. Dobson Cellular, meanwhile, said in a filing that any changes should follow broader themes of the need for reform. “Through several pending proceedings, the Commission is in the process of considering fundamental reforms to the high-cost program, for both the rural and non-rural mechanisms, as well as possible reform to the overall administration and management of the universal service program,” the wireless carrier said: “Comprehensive reform is needed with regard to all high-cost support mechanisms, and the Commission must take a comprehensive, ‘big picture’ approach to such reform.”