Senate Panel Grills Tate on USF, Calls Cap Shortsighted
Senate Commerce Committee members said Tues. it’s not realistic to revamp the Universal Service Fund in 6 months at the start of the 2008 campaign cycle. Act now, members told FCC Comr. Tate, who serves as Joint Board chair. Tate endured tense, sometimes hostile questioning by members from both sides of the aisle over a recent Board recommendation to cap funding for competitive eligible telecom carriers (CETC), which are mostly wireless. To better understand how its decisions on rural service affect Americans, the FCC should move to the Me. backwoods, an official from that state said.
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“What you're saying is, the FCC is incapable of making reform unless all the people who are making money say it’s okay,” said Sen. McCaskill (D-Mo.). Tate noted the difficulty of achieving consensus on full-scale changes, but called the cap a first step: “I understand your frustration, but I'm here today because… we are moving ahead.”
McCaskill asked Tate if the fund should also support broadband and Internet services. “We will be taking that into consideration as we move forward,” Tate said. The Joint Board weighed such issues in arriving at its recommendation to cap the fund, she said, adding that she understands some committee members back use of USF funds to deploy broadband. Terming the Joint Board action piecemeal, Sen. Snowe (R-Me.) told Tate that the FCC is “ignoring and overlooking the impact of the cap.” The cap will set rural America back years, Snowe said.
“We may jeopardize universal service itself” by relying on short-term proposals instead of taking the time to address long-term changes, said Commerce Committee Chmn. Inouye (D- Hawaii): “If comprehensive reform requires a more vigorous review of the identical support rule or any other aspect of existing policy, we should proceed down that road.” Inouye wasn’t at the meeting. Vice Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) read a list of his prepared questions.
Stevens lashed the FCC for not acting comprehensively. The Committee could pursue legislation to correct problems, but that’s a lengthy process, he said, noting that the FCC has the authority to take action now. “Someone’s putting their head in the ground. This is an ostrich approach as far as I'm concerned,” he said, citing the identical support rule, which requires carriers entering a new territory to get the same level of support as the existing incumbent -- a “windfall,” in Stevens’ estimation.
Rural states dislike the Joint Board move. Last week, Kan. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius wrote the FCC, Inouye and Stevens voicing concern about the impact if the cap lasts 2 years. Without USF, many communities would lack coverage, she said. She questioned why rural residents must bear the “full brunt of any cap,” urging instead a long-term solution.
OPASTCO Chmn. Roger Nishi advised Congress to adopt the Joint Board recommendation to impose an interim cap on CETC high-cost support. This would stem growth under the identical support rule while giving Congress and the FCC time for comprehensive reform, he said. AT&T thinks the board’s proposed interim solution would provide a “temporary and tailored reform measure that should bring discipline to the fund,” said Joel Lubin, vp-regulatory planning & policy.
The cap drew fire from U.S. Cellular and Chinook Wireless, the latter serving Wyo., N.D. and S.D. Everett Flannery, chief deputy-Kennebec County, Me., said the decision would be “terrible” for that state, already plagued by spotty wireless service. He suggested that Congress require the FCC to move its offices to rural Me. and require commissioners to live and work there so they can experience what locals must confront every day.