WASHINGTON-It appears that the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association and the Personal Communications Industry Association agree on the basic tenets of the industry’s future participation in the Universal Service Fund.
Spokesmen representing both groups gave RCR a brief rundown of comments prior to their submission late Friday to the Federal Communications Commission. Both sets of proposed paperwork contained the following similarities: the FCC was asked to craft a non-discriminatory method of assessing contributions; any assessment should be technology-neutral; most wireless carriers are interstate in nature and, therefore, should pay into a federal rather than a state fund; and such “hidden charges” as access and interconnection fees need to be modified or dropped. In addition, CTIA planned to ask for a “reverse auction”-one that would allow bids to be submitted to serve remote areas, and with the lowest-cost provider deemed the winner.
