RLECs Continue to Urge FCC to Increase Rate-of-Return USF Subsidy Support
Rural telco groups again recommended the FCC hike their USF funding support, as replies were posted Monday and Tuesday in docket 10-90. NTCA repeated its call for providing additional funding for carriers that opted into the alternative connect America cost…
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model (A-CAM) mechanism and for those receiving nonmodel support. "Budget shortfalls throughout the entirety of the RLEC High Cost program undermine the goals of the [March 2016] Rate-of-Return Reform order and threaten to leave far too many rural Americans with access only to substandard and/or unaffordable" broadband service, the group replied, citing a "unanimous record" in initial comments supporting additional funding (see 1702140043). The Eastern Rural Telecom Association's reply said it "strongly supports full funding" of both the A-CAM and nonmodel funding mechanisms. The reply of a group of Nebraska rural telcos said it supports funding A-CAM recipients at $200 per location, which it calculated would require $104 million a year, not the $110 million initial commenters cited, because some carriers elected not to receive the support. It disputed previous calls for "fully funding" the A-CAM mechanism. "The highest cost-companies have costs far in excess of $200 per location," said the Nebraska group. It nevertheless backed the $200 amount as a "realistic policy outcome" that "recognizes the Commission's budget limitations." It said calls for additional nonmodel support "are being addressed in a separate proceeding and thus are not germane" to the rulemaking.