WASHINGTON-Two rural trade associations tried Wednesday to shoot down Western Wireless Corp.’s basic argument that competition and universal service can co-exist.
“Congress was careful to treat areas served by rural telephone companies differently, in recognition of the uncertainty regarding both the feasibility and the desirability of competition in rural areas,” wrote Dale Lehman in a white paper, “Universal Service and the Myth of the Level Playing Field.” The Telecommunications Act of 1996 “provides for designation of multiple eligible telecommunications carriers. While such designation is relatively automatic in areas served by large providers, designation of multiple ETCs in areas served by rural carriers must be found to be in the ‘public interest.’ This additional requirement clearly indicates that Congress was unsure that multiple ETCs in rural service areas was a good idea.”
The white paper was released by the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association and the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies.
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Both organizations have been urging policy-makers to reform the universal-service program to make it more difficult for wireless carriers to receive subsidies.
The white paper is in direct response to comments filed earlier this summer by Western Wireless.
“The universal-service system provides the rural telephone companies with a guaranteed profit, regardless of how good or bad their service might be, or how inefficient they are in spending government subsidies. It is time to change the status quo and develop an efficient universal-service system that encourages carriers to serve the needs of consumers and cost-effectively provide service in high-cost areas. NTCA and OPASTCO’s assertion that efficient competition is incompatible with universal service reflects a mindset bent on squelching competition and maintaining their members’ dominant market share-all at the expense of consumers. Times have changed, but the telephone companies’ inordinate reliance on government subsidies has not,” said Mark Rubin, Western Wireless director of federal government affairs.