Carriers won’t need ‘dollar-for-dollar replacement of lost interc...
Carriers won’t need “dollar-for-dollar replacement of lost intercarrier revenues” after an FCC overhaul of intercarrier compensation or the Universal Service Fund, said the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates. In comments to “refresh the record” on USF and…
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intercarrier compensation proceedings at the FCC, the group asked the FCC to reject the premise that reducing intercarrier compensation revenue will increase USF demand. Technology and market changes help carriers “mitigate” reform’s impact, it said. For example, “carriers are now generating billions of dollars in [DSL] revenues that they did not generate five or ten years ago,” it said. The group urged the FCC to “reject resoundingly” proposals by Sprint Nextel and others to raise the subscriber line charge to offset revenue lost to reform. “Industry members may find it appealing to ‘pass the buck’ to consumers as a simple way to resolve thorny regulatory problems, but such a tactic would thwart the goal of universal service and unfairly burden consumers,” the group said.