Small incumbent local exchange carriers should be able to receive...
Small incumbent local exchange carriers should be able to receive more local switching support when they lose a significant number of access lines, said a group of rural carrier associations in a letter to the FCC. The letter, which…
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backed a petition by the Coalition for Equity in Switching Support, was signed by the National Exchange Carrier Association, the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance, the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, the Western Telecommunications Alliance and the Organization for Promotion & Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies. Under FCC rules, a small ILEC’s LSS support is reduced when its number of access lines climbs above a dial equipment minute weight threshold. However, the reverse is not true, they said: a small ILEC won’t get more support if its access line count falls below the threshold. Changing the rule will expand the universal service fund by about $11.7 million, the rural groups estimated. “This amount is less than 0.2 percent of the $6.95 billion USF, and therefore granting the request for clarification would not have a perceptible impact on the overall Fund.”