USF Support Must Extend to Stand-Alone Broadband Service, 133 Lawmakers Tell FCC

In the Senate, Commerce Committee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., authored the letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, signed by 42 of their colleagues. Signatories included Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and several members from both parties on the Commerce and Judiciary committees. Among those signing were Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.; Judiciary Privacy Subcommittee Chairman Al Franken, D-Minn.; Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa; Tim Johnson, D-S.D.; and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., several of whom have been outspoken on behalf of rural consumers on telecom matters. Consumers are abandoning plain old telephone service (POTS) for wireless and IP-enabled services, these lawmakers said in the letter.

"Given our shared commitment to rural consumers, we urge the FCC to propose rules, under authority granted by section 254 of the Communications Act, to carefully update existing USF mechanisms to provide sufficient and predictable support where consumers in areas served by smaller rural carriers affirmatively choose to adopt only broadband services even where POTS is also available to them,” the senators told the FCC (http://1.usa.gov/1ioLesg). “While it is important that the FCC complete its implementation of Phase II of the Connect America Fund in areas served by larger carriers this year, the FCC should nonetheless address smaller carrier support mechanisms expeditiously, accounting for their unique operations. Consumers in areas served by smaller rural carriers should have the same fundamental choices among reasonably comparable services at reasonably comparable rates as consumers in other rural and urban areas.”

In the House, Cory Gardner, R-Colo., authored a similar letter, with 88 House lawmakers from both parties joining him. “While we recognize the FCC is working on a forward looking model for areas served by price cap companies we hope the FCC will work with rate of return companies to create separately designed updates that provide predictable support for the areas they serve as well,” the House letter said (http://1.usa.gov/1jxKAxt). “Further, we believe that an update to rural carrier support mechanisms can be done at the same time as the work on larger carriers.” House signatories included Communications Subcommittee Vice Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, along with Reps. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa; John Shimkus, R-Ill.; Lee Terry, R-Neb.; and Peter Welch, D-Vt.

"Right now, some rural consumers effectively do not have the option of purchasing only broadband from their telecom provider,” Gardner said in a statement. “These are outdated rules that the FCC can and should change.” Gardner is a member of the Communications Subcommittee and running for a Senate seat from Colorado in this year’s elections.

A Thune news release framed the issue in dire terms: “Unless addressed, this FCC policy will increasingly lead to an unintended outcome of less support and less choice for rural consumers, which is problematic since our country’s universal service policy is to increase broadband adoption and deployment in rural areas. This denial of universal service support disregards consumer preference and is at odds with the FCC’s own National Broadband Plan, which has a goal of promoting the deployment of and adoption of broadband networks in rural America.”

NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association supported the lawmakers “encouraging the FCC to adopt a mechanism that would provide Universal Service Fund support for advanced networks when subscribers in high-cost areas of the country served by rural, rate-of-return-regulated carriers choose to subscribe to broadband services only rather than also purchasing local voice services,” NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield said in a statement. “An updated and carefully tailored Connect America Fund mechanism for smaller rural providers is needed to ensure that consumers can make effective choices among services delivered by these advanced networks and that our members will be able to continue providing high-quality, affordable broadband services in hard-to-serve rural areas.” An NTCA spokeswoman told us the association’s members had backed the message and made a point of asking lawmakers in their respective states and districts to sign the letters.

The FCC declined comment on the letters. But the agency is “listening closely to Congress” and encouraged recently by what it deems strong Capitol Hill support for “decisive action to reinstate enforceable Open Internet rules,” an FCC official told us. USTelecom and the Western Telecom Alliance also did not comment.