Tate Says Joint Board Reviewing Emergency, Short-Term Caps for CETCs
ORLANDO -- If the FCC imposes a cap on competitive eligible telecom carrier (CETC) participation in the USF program it will likely be short-term, said 2 members of the Federal State Board on Universal Service, including FCC Comr. Tate, Wed. at CTIA’s Wireless 2007 show. A source said the cap could be lifted this year. Recommendations of the joint board are expected shortly.
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Tate, board chairperson, told us she hasn’t taken a position on caps and has urged negotiations. “As chair of the joint board I thought it was especially good for me to try to build a consensus among the members,” Tate said: “I have not stated a position on what direction I think we ought to move toward. Obviously, the discussions we have had about any type of cap would merely be a discussion of a short-term interim or emergency-type cap.” Tate said a cap would be “one tool as we move forward in the larger discussion of revamping and saving the Universal Service Fund.” She said she has “no idea” when the joint board proposal will be released.
Larry Landis, Ind. regulator and joint board member, said a cap “is still under discussion” at the board. “The key thing to keep in mind is if a cap approach is adopted it’s clearly a short-term mechanism,” he said: “I get a general sense on the joint board that there is a desire to make that very clearly if that winds up being the interim solution.”
Landis said he has had many discussions at CTIA and elsewhere about wireless carriers receiving universal service funds. “We've had a lot of dialog with folks across the entire spectrum of the wireless community -- large companies, smaller companies focused predominantly on rural areas. Each of them obviously has their own perspective and their own concerns. We need to make sure that we hear them.”
Landis said the joint board must act cautiously. “We tend to make decisions on government policy, whether at the state or federal level… without fully considering the longer-term implications and the latent, the unknown gotchas that can grow out of that sort of thing,” he said: “If there is a short term solution… it’s with the notion that we need to take the time to be very deliberative in examining the implications of the proposal.”