The FCC should cap federal interstate access charges for rate-of-...
The FCC should cap federal interstate access charges for rate-of-return carriers at today’s rates while considering Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation overhauls, said the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association. The group was responding to a May 2 FCC request…
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to refresh the record on USF and intercarrier compensation. Access costs unrecovered under the capped rates “should be recovered from interim USF funding as another component of Interstate Common Line Support,” NTCA said. The action likely won’t swell the fund because the FCC has capped USF support for competitive eligible telecommunications carriers and is looking to kill the identical support rule, which bases CETC subsidies on incumbent costs, NTCA said. “This decisive FCC action now will preserve and advance universal service in high-cost and rural areas, will provide a specific and predictable universal service mechanism and will provide a reasonable cost recovery mechanism for rate of return carriers for the foreseeable future,” the NTCA said. It also urged the FCC to create a timeline to shift the universal service system from Public Switched Telephone Network technology to IP broadband.