Universal Service Fund revamp legislation recently introduced by House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb. (CD July 23 p1) doesn’t offer much for satellite broadband providers, said industry executives. The legislation, which would create a fund to help extend Internet to the most rural regions, leaves out the technology that could expand broadband the furthest at the lowest cost, they contend.
Revamping the Universal Service Fund should be an FCC priority, said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. In a letter Tuesday to the commissioners, he asked the agency to “proceed with urgency” to fix problems in rural communications infrastructure exposed by the recent mining disaster in his home state. Rockefeller didn’t mention comprehensive USF legislation introduced July 22 by House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb. (CD July 26 p3).
AT&T explained in a blog post why it’s the leading recipient of Universal Service Fund money, even as it advocates an overhaul of the program. News coverage suggesting a contradiction misses the point, wrote AT&T Vice President Hank Hultquist. “AT&T’s wireline footprint covers about 30% of the country’s rural homes, yet AT&T receives about 4% of the total USF high cost support for it doing so,” he said. “A group of smaller companies, which collectively cover about 38% of the country’s rural homes, receive almost 60% of the total USF high cost support.” Most of the wireline support that AT&T receives is for work in two states, Mississippi and Alabama, Hultquist said. “I want to be clear that AT&T is not seeking to change the fund so that it would receive support similar to that received by these smaller companies,” he said. “What AT&T has advocated for is a system where support is determined for all providers based on geographic areas relevant to investment decisions."
The Universal Service Fund must be revamped to maximize the deployment of broadband and minimize the financial burden on consumers, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Wednesday. “When up to 24 million Americans don’t have access to a communications technology that is essential to participation in our 21st Century economy and democracy, I think that is unacceptable.” Speaking in Seattle to a conference of the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies, Genachowski laid out five USF reform principles.
Rural wireless carriers didn’t endorse but some may be open to Universal Service Fund overhaul legislation by House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb. The bill (HR-5828) is backed by major wireline associations, the cable industry and AT&T and Verizon (CD July 23 p1). Some expected a competitive bidding rule to alienate rural wireless carriers that compete for USF dollars as competitive eligible telecommunications carriers. Wireless CETCs have concerns, but believe Boucher and Terry listened hard to all stakeholders and came up with a “solid compromise,” said Rural Telecommunication Group General Counsel Carri Bennet.
Wholesale carriers shouldn’t be liable for additional contributions to the Universal Service Fund when their reseller customers have provided a contribution certification, AT&T, CenturyLink, SureWest and Verizon said in replies Wednesday on a U.S. TelePacific request to review. “The E-rate Reconsideration Order is clear Commission precedent establishing that the entity responsible for causing an outstanding USF obligation is likewise responsible for remedying it,” they said. The bureau should clarify that the TelePacific order didn’t adopt new requirements for wholesale providers, the filing said. The Ad Hoc Coalition of International Telecommunications Companies asked the commission to suspend enforcement of the carrier’s carrier rule until a rulemaking is held to “vet issues and resolve industry-wide confusion.” The Universal Service Administrative Co. has overstepped its authority and it misinterprets and misapplies the rule, the coalition said. “USAC’s convoluted interpretation of the Rule and the WCB’s cryptic TelePacific Order have triggered further disputes between wholesalers and retail providers."
Wireline telcos of all sizes plus the cable industry backed comprehensive Universal Service Fund legislation introduced Thursday by Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., of the House Communications Subcommittee and Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb. The sponsors are upbeat about winning FCC support and getting the long-gestating bill through Congress, they told reporters Thursday. The measure will rein in the size of the fund and spur broadband deployment, they said. The legislation will make USF “durable and sustainable in the long term,” said Boucher.
The FCC concludes in its sixth broadband deployment report that 14-24 million Americans still can’t get high-speed access, and the immediate prospect for deployment to the unserved Americans is “bleak.” As expected (CD July 19 p1), commission Republicans Robert McDowell and Meredith Baker issued vigorous dissents from the report and its finding that the FCC can’t conclude that broadband is being deployed to all Americans in a “reasonable and timely” manner.
States have a role in determining whether households with incomes higher than 135 percent of federal poverty guidelines meet income eligibility, TracFone said in a filing on proposed changes to the FCC Lifeline program. TracFone also encouraged the FCC to allow residents of homeless shelters to be eligible for support. The company has been designated as an eligible telecom carrier in 31 states, it noted. TracFone also said wireless carriers must remain eligible. “Rules which differ among ETCs and among their Lifeline customers based on technology (e.g. wireline vs. wireless) or based on service offerings … have no place in a nationally uniform Lifeline program funded by the federal Universal Service Fund."
The FCC should make clearer its plans to modify supported services, shift support from providers offering only telephone service to those offering broadband and what it considers the cross-technology definition of broadband, the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission said in late comments on the National Broadband Plan. “Our concern is not that people are unaware of the transition to an all-IP world. Rather, we are concerned that the FCC has not made explicit the role it expects universal service mechanisms to play in that transition.” Breaking the action agenda for the plan into parts has “created the fiction that the impact of the implementation is likely to be small,” it said. “This is unlikely to be the case.” The Indiana commission said the FCC has done “insufficient analysis” of how the proposals would affect small and midsized rural ILECs. It agreed that high-cost support should be given to the fewest carriers necessary but said the FCC must look at a USF revamp holistically. It asked that parties get to comment specifically on eliminating high-cost loop support or reducing high-cost loop support, if that’s what the FCC intends to do.