Implementing draft FCC rules on universal service fees could dest...
Implementing draft FCC rules on universal service fees could destroy the telematics industry, ATX Group said in a Wednesday press release. Proposals to set a fixed monthly fee of $1 per phone number would raise location-based emergency communications costs…
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to a point where the business wouldn’t make sense, ATX Group said. The commission doesn’t see that most such services are used only in the rare instance of an emergency and are priced accordingly, the company said. “We just don’t think it makes sense to assess fees on these services in the same manner the FCC would like to impose fees for traditional telephone or cell phone service.” ATX Group told the FCC in an Oct. 28 filing that in “virtually all circumstances, the USF fee will exceed the cost of the airtime,” which would “choke off” services the commission “has recognized as critical to improving emergency response.”