Connections-Based Contribution Will Stabilize Nebraska USF, Say Windstream, Rural LECs
Connections-based USF contribution in Nebraska would be more stable than a revenue-based mechanism because “connections, regardless of technology or revenue trends, are essential for telecommunications,” Windstream replied Tuesday in Nebraska Public Service Commission docket NUSF-100. The company rejected Charter arguments…
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from last week that the PSC shouldn't overhaul its contribution method based on unproven assumptions that revenue may decline forever and that the number of wireless connections will continue to grow (see 1709210038). A Nebraska group of rural independent phone companies rejected warnings by Charter and CTIA about the move to connections. “No amount of revisionist arguments … can change the fact that remittances to the NUSF have steadily and materially declined, or … that the only means to stabilize remittances generated by the current revenue-based mechanism is to increase the surcharge percentage," the rural carriers replied. The PSC is unwilling to increase the surcharge, so contribution must change to a connections-based mechanism, they said. Charter disagreed: “There are serious obstacles to implementing a connections-based approach successfully.” The PSC lacks authority because the FCC gives states authority only over intrastate revenue, and a connections-based mechanism “by its nature is unrelated to intrastate revenue,” the cable company said. Rural carriers want to switch to avoid a cap on revenue-based surcharge, Charter said: Rural carriers support “a new methodology so [rural carriers] can argue (in a later phase) for a larger fund.” Cox, which earlier outlined its terms for changing contribution methods, clarified that it never fully supported an overhaul. Cox said it asked the PSC "to make this change be as simple as possible, [but] it doesn't negate or lessen Cox's concern with Nebraska experimenting with the implementation of a new and untested methodology.” Business customers with many lines might bear an unreasonable burden under connections-based USF if the PSC uses FCC Form 477 data, which doesn’t adequately identify high-capacity facilities, replied the Association of TeleServices International.