WASHINGTON-CTIA asked the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider some of its guidelines for designating wireless carriers eligible for universal-service subsidies last week as rural lawmakers voiced support for universal service and Senate legislation was introduced to eliminate the 3-percent tax on talking.
CTIA said some of the FCC’s guidelines for designating wireless carriers eligible telecom carriers are “overly burdensome and illogical.” Specifically, CTIA said requiring carriers to submit five-year buildout plans was unrealistic and that having different outage reporting requirements than those already required was redundant and unnecessary.
On the Hill, Members of the Congressional Rural Caucus put a marker down in favor of universal service, urging the House Commerce Committee leadership to include reform of the subsidy in any telecom-act rewrite.
“The universal-service fund is vital. It is vital that this rewrite gets it right,” said Rep. John Peterson (R-Pa.), chairman of the Congressional Rural Caucus. “Would I leave it up to the Senate?-Hell no!”
Most of the indications coming from key House Commerce Committee lawmakers and staffers are that they are willing to let Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, take the lead on universal service.
The universal-service system was set up in the 1930s to bring telecom services to high-cost areas by using long-distance revenues. The system was complicated when the Bell system broke up in the 1980s, but was codified into the Communications Act in 1996. Congress at that time made it possible for all telecom providers to receive funds if they served high-cost areas.
Now with many consumers using mobile phones and Internet telephony to make long-distance calls, less money is going into the system at the same time that additional providers-mostly wireless carriers that have taken the second-line business from wireline carriers-have begun taking money from the fund.
Both the FCC and Congress are looking at ways to reform the universal-service system.
On the issue of taxes, the wireless industry reiterated its view of the excessive taxes paid by wireless subscribers as it praised Sen. Rick Santorum for introducing a bill in the Senate to repeal the 3-percent tax on talking. Similar legislation was introduced in May in the House.
The wireless industry has lobbied unsuccessfully to kill the tax, which dates back to the Spanish-American War, since the late 1990s, coming close in the waning days of the Clinton administration when both houses of Congress passed versions of such legislation. Despite industry and legislative backing for the tax’s elimination, it’s a tough sell because the tax on talking is not earmarked and can be used to reduce the deficit. Last year, there even was talk of increasing the tax to 4 percent.
