Three Alaskan lawmakers urged the FCC to approve a waiver to...
Three Alaskan lawmakers urged the FCC to approve a waiver to provide USF funds for a telecom company operating on the remote Adak Island of the Aleutian chain. “Adak is arguably the most remote community in the United States,” and…
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its residents’ dependence on telecommunications is “enormous,” said the letter which was made public last week. Without the support of USF funds, Windy City Cellular, which serves the Adak community, can continue to operate “for only a couple of weeks” and if its service is discontinued the negative impact to the people of Adak “will be most severe,” the letter said. It was signed by Alaskan Sens. Mark Begich, a Democrat, and Lisa Murkowski, Republican, and Republican Rep. Don Young, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs. In June the FCC granted Windy City Cellular limited interim relief of the USF/ICC Transformation Order to provide the company with $40,104 per month for a period of six months beginning in June 2012, or until the commission resolves the company’s pending waiver petition. In the relief order the commission noted that it needed additional time to “compile a full record regarding the nature and level of WCC’s costs” and complete its evaluation of WCC’s petition (http://xrl.us/bnbocq).