Rural Telcos Want USF Base Widened
Rural telcos want a wider contribution base for the universal service fund, plus support for broadband deployment, according to Wed testimony before the House Subcommittee on Rural Enterprises. Groups lauded the approach in a bill (HR-5072) by Reps. Terry (R-Neb.) and Boucher (D-Va.) that would require all 2-way voice services to contribute, create a fund for broadband deployment in unserved areas and put a limit on the fund’s growth.
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It’s “critical that Congress take the initiative and reform the current USF before rural America is left with no broadband deployment,” Terry said. His bill would broaden the base fairly and without bias, he said: “If you provide an access to the public switch such as a cable modem or DSL provider, you will pay into the fund. If you play, you pay.”
“The goal of the USF policy is to ensure that every citizen, regardless of location, has affordable, high-quality access to the newest technologies,” said Subcommittee Chmn. Graves (R-Mo.). He said expanding the base of contributions is essential to sustain the fund.
USTelecom backs the Terry-Boucher bill’s comprehensive take on USF, said Ed Merlis, senior vp-govt. affairs. He singled out a provision that would bar the FCC from curbing USF support to a single, primary connection to the public telephone network. “Our companies construct and maintain networks in some of the most expensive service areas in the country,” Merlis said: “A primary-line restriction would undermine their ability to sustain and to modernize these communications networks.”
The bill’s proposed cap on the high-cost USF fund would “inhibit the goal of 100 percent broadband deployment,” said the Coalition to Keep America Connected, which includes NTCA, OPASTCO, Independent Telecom & Telephone Alliance (ITTA), the Western Telecom Alliance (WTA) and 700 communications firms. “A cap by its very nature means a carrier will not receive the support it is due,” the coalition said. But it said it backs the bill’s effort to close “loopholes” that let providers “evade contributing into the fund even though they benefit from the resulting network upgrades and investment.”
USF should be updated in a “balanced manner,” said Computer & Communication Industry Assn. Pres. Ed Black. This means: (1) Addressing the costs of building and maintaining a network in a competitive environment. (2) Creating a funding means based on what’s needed and used, not what’s collected. (3) A targeted approach to growth that channels funds to areas that need help.