Regulators should consider something other than a cap to slow Uni...
Regulators should consider something other than a cap to slow Universal Service Fund (USF) growth, 5 Senate Commerce Committee members told the co-chairmen of the Federal-State Joint Board in a March 21 letter. In the belief that the joint…
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board and FCC “won’t adopt any serious reforms of the program without a cap,” several witnesses at a recent committee hearing recommended capping the USF, the senators told FCC Comr. Tate and Ore. PUC Chmn. Ray Baum: “We reject that notion.” The joint board is expected to urge an “emergency cap” soon, said Sens. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Pryor (D-Ark.), Dorgan (D-N.D.), Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Smith (R- Ore.): “We urge you to consider other more thoughtful measures to limit the growth of the USF instead of arbitrarily capping the fund.” Instead, the joint board should weigh “competitively-neutral proposals, ensure accountability for how funds are used, and promote build-out of advanced services in rural regions through effective targeting of funds to high cost areas,” the letter said. The cap has been described as a temporary measure, but “we are concerned that it would become a de facto permanent cap,” the senators said.