Special access rate reform will likely be ‘a first-year priority’...
Special access rate reform will likely be “a first-year priority” for the next FCC, said telecom lawyer Andrew Lipman at a UBS media and telecom conference Monday. A recent GAO report said special access rates were “exploding,” and Commissioners…
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Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein “feel very strongly” about lowering rates, Lipman said. “This is a big issue not only for the Democrats but for the big business users and for the large competitors.” The Universal Service Fund and intercarrier competition will probably also get attention, but not until the second half of next year, Lipman said. The FCC “might take up a few bite-size issues like phantom traffic and traffic pumping,” he said. The FCC will look at tightening fiscal control over USF, and better targeting USF support to broadband and low-income urban areas, he said.