Idaho’s Public Utilities Commission told eight rural phone compan...
Idaho’s Public Utilities Commission told eight rural phone companies to adjust their rates closer to the statewide average if they want to keep receiving state universal service funds. The commission’s announcement Friday listed annual USF subsidies to Fremont Telecom ($66,636), ATC Communications ($63,850), Cambridge Telephone ($29,218), Midvale Telephone ($28,875), Direct Communications Rockland ($19,446), Inland Telephone ($15,557), Rural Telephone ($13,907) and Silver Star Telecom ($7,424). Idaho supports its fund by charging phone customers 10 cents monthly per residential line, 17 cents a business line and one-third of a cent a long-distance minute. To get USF money, a rural telco’s average residential and business local exchange rates must exceed 125 percent of the weighted statewide average rates for the services. Since 2005, when Idaho started allowing carriers to remove themselves from price regulation, the weighted average rates for customers of the two largest
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Qwest and Verizon have risen. The 2009 statewide average has risen to $20.61 per month for residential customers and $32.43 for business service, the commission said. Rural telcos’ rates haven’t risen as much, according to state USF fund data. “The USF was not intended to support rural company rates at historic levels in perpetuity while all other telephone customer rates increase over time,” the commission said, pointing to the legislated 125 percent limit. The Idaho Telecom Alliance, representing rural telcos, disputes the formula for figuring the statewide weighted average. The industry group says the statewide average takes into account promotions, credits and bundled service discounts offered by Qwest and Verizon, which serve 84 percent of Idaho residential lines. The alliance suggested that the commission use the 2005 statewide average. The commission replied that an option to use 2005 numbers was created to reduce concern that deregulating major carriers could bring dramatic rate increases, raising the statewide average. Since 2005 the USF has reported statewide average rates annually, and the commission has relied on those figures rather than the 2005 average, it added. Parties have until Dec. 28 to ask the commission for reconsideration.