Joint Board to Support Broad, Permanent USF Cap
The Federal-State Joint Board for Universal Service has agreed to a permanent cap for the high cost part of the Universal Service Fund, most likely at 2007 levels, regulatory and industry sources said Wednesday. The proposal would also create separate funds for wireline, wireless and broadband.
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The broadband fund would pay for buildout but not maintenance of facilities and would likely be based on the saving from imposition of a cap. Sources said that with many rural ILECs having deployed broadband, much of the money would likely flow to pay for buildout in the most rural areas served by the Bells. AT&T previously proposed pilot projects for a broadband and mobility fund similar to the cap for the E-Rate program, to be used for targeted projects to fund deployment in unserved areas.
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps has opposed a cap on the high cost fund but has supported bringing broadband into universal service and is likely to support parts of the proposal, sources said. Chairman Kevin Martin and Commissioner Deborah Tate haven’t been active in the most recent discussions. Representatives of Martin and Tate didn’t comment by our deadline.
State members of the joint board members plan to ask Martin and Tate to weigh in the next few weeks, said sources at the NARUC meeting now taking place in Anaheim, Calif. Members of the board hope to avoid delays like those last summer, when the board agreed to a statement on the future of USF in July, but it wasn’t released by the FCC for two months (CD Sept 10 p1).
Martin in late October circulated an order and two notices of proposed rulemaking on USF reform (CD Nov 5 p1). The order, based on the Alltel merger order, would cap USF payments at June 2007 levels, unless a carrier filed cost data showing its per-line costs are less than the capped funding level. Martin also circulated a pair of rulemakings. One would provide for reverse auctions for USF payments. The other would eliminate the identical support rule.