USTelecom Offers USF Voice Support Plan With $105 Million Budget, $35 Million for Transition
USTelecom proposed updated methodology for distributing USF voice subsidies in high-cost and extremely high-cost areas not otherwise supported by Connect America Fund Phase II. The group proposed distributing $105 million in annual high-cost USF funding as the starting budget for…
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the voice support -- equal to $95 million in frozen support currently given to price-cap ILECs and $10 million to account for Alaska Communications support. There would be another $35 million in transition support the first year that would be phased out by year three. USTelecom said it and incumbent telco members previously submitted proposals for how the FCC should support price-cap ILEC voice services for unsubsidized locations not given voice-related USF forbearance relief from eligible telecom carrier (ETC) voice duties in states where they accepted model-based CAF II support offers. This plan "encapsulates those areas but also expands to encompass other high cost areas that will remain unsupported after the CAF II Auction" (scheduled to start July 24), said a filing posted Monday in docket 10-90. "This expansion required a fresh look towards a simple and readily implementable interim proposal." Otherwise, it said, price-cap ILECs will have an "unfunded ETC obligation" where not replaced as ETC.