Consumer Groups Haven’t Found Voice on USF Overhaul
Consumer advocates have yet to coalesce around an universal service reform plan (CD Sept 8 p4). The issue is so “complex” compared to matters like net neutrality and AT&T’s plan to buy T-Mobile that nonprofits have divvied it up, Public Knowledge Legal Director Harold Feld said. “The real problem here for a lot of us is that this is a huge complex area, the resources to play in a significant way on the telco side requires economic expertise that’s not always in-house."
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NASUCA is one group that has been unequivocal in its condemnation of the industry-backed reform proposals. Last week, NASUCA said the entire incumbent-reform package should be rejected. NASUCA believes there’s no room for negotiation: The FCC must reject the ABC Plan, a spokesman said. Consumers would pay for the plan if the FCC moves forward with it, he said. If the commission is determined to adopt a global plan, the state members plan is the best that has been presented, he said.
Other consumer groups have been more reticent. One consumer advocate said the groups were only fighting for “crumbs.” Both Feld and Consumer Federation of America Research Director Mark Cooper said that was part of a long tradition. “Consumer advocates have not historically been that active on ICC reform, while they have been very active in universal service issues,” Cooper said. Cooper was vocal in the early stages of the reform proceeding that wireless was essential to universal service reform, but his voice has been absent even as wireless fights for a bigger piece of the pie.
That doesn’t mean the fight is over, Feld said. It just means that it’s taking a different form than battles like net neutrality. “Because we're all focusing on a different piece of the puzzle, there’s not a single voice that’s focused,” he said. “I don’t know that there is going to be a big, coming-together moment. I think that if this does happen, it'll be when the final proposals crystallize. It’s not a trivial thing for all of us as organizations to focus in on a single issue when you have something as complex as this proceeding going on.”