WASHINGTON-A group of senators, many of them alumni of the 1996 Farm Team, are urging the Federal Communications Commission to reject a recommendation to restrict universal-service subsidies to primary lines.
“Imposing a primary-line restriction whereby neither second lines nor cell phones are included for support runs wholly counter to the principle of advancing affordable and advanced telecommunications,” according to a draft of the letter. “Second lines and cell phones are readily available for urban residential and business customers. Yet, under a primary-line restriction, rural customers would have the right only to one phone line at a reasonable cost comparable to urban areas, and their second lines could be charged exorbitant rates. This puts rural customers at a distinct disadvantage to their urban counterparts.”
Drafts of the letter were distributed last week to members of the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association before they met with various members of the Senate to push for universal-service reform that does not include a primary-line restriction.
The letter is being spearheaded by Sens. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), chairman of the Senate communications subcommittee, and Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.).
“We are going to try to get a pretty robust group of people because the joint board has made a terrible mistake in recommending that universal-service support be restricted to one primary line. That would consign much of rural America to an economic future of great difficulty,” Dorgan told RCR Wireless News following his NTCA appearance. “Our hope is to communicate a very strong message to the FCC-don’t do this. This would be very counter-productive to all that we have worked for.”
Under the primary-line restriction, one carrier could only receive support for one household instead of the current system where carriers receive support based on how many lines are served. This system has allowed wireless carriers to receive support for serving rural customers even if the customer has not cut the cord.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 allowed universal-service support to become portable so that the carrier that is serving the customer received the support for serving that customer.
In an effort to protect the growth of the universal-service fund, the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service last month recommended that support be limited to one primary line. The FCC has one year to act on the recommendation but Daniel Mitchell, NTCA senior regulatory counsel, told attendees to the NTCA 2004 Legislative and Policy Conference that three of the five FCC members were at best lukewarm to the idea.
“We have three FCC commissioners who will be voting on the primary-line restrictions and none of them seems to be hard-and-fast in support of the primary-line restrictions,” said Daniel Mitchell, NTCA senior regulatory counsel.
FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, who appeared after Mitchell at the conference, said he strongly opposes the primary-line restriction. “For myself, I hope the primary-line restriction is dead on arrival,” said Adelstein.
Rural incumbent local exchange carriers have been fighting against wireless carriers for universal-service support as both the amount of subsidies and number of carriers receiving support has increased. There is a fear that the high-cost universal-service fund will go bankrupt.
A group of competitive eligible telecommunications carriers met last week in Atlanta to discuss strategy, said Mark Rubin, director of governmental affairs for Western Wireless Corp. Western Wireless has been the main force behind getting ETC designations for wireless carriers.
