WASHINGTON-Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), often an advocate for rural America and former chairman of the Senate communications subcommittee, celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 by introducing a universal-service reform bill that basically leaves wireless out in the cold.
By not allowing wireless carriers to be approved for eligible telecommunications carrier status-a necessary step to receive universal-service support-unless they can serve the exact footprint of a rural wireline carrier, wireless carriers that are currently receiving support would be pre-empted from continuing to receive government subsidies.
The purpose of the legislation is to make the universal-service system “fair and comparable. The rules should be consistent for everyone,” said a Senate source, who asked not to be named.
When pressed about the problem that wireless carriers face since their license areas are determined by population and not according to rural wireline service territories, the source said it was unclear whether that was the case. “I don’t know if that is accurate,” said the source.
New technologies can only receive support “if they can comply with the rules,” said the source.
Not surprisingly, the wireline industry gushed over the bill.
“Sen. Burns took a step forward in helping to shape the debate on efforts to update our telecom laws and preserve and modernize the nation’s universal-service program,” said Walter B. McCormick Jr., president and chief executive officer of the United States Telecommunications Association.
A wireless industry source, who wished not to be identified, was not as positive. “Sen. Burns deserves much credit for taking this on but the fact that the bill was introduced with no co-sponsors might indicate concerns members have with provisions that are viewed as not being competitively neutral.”
When he was chairman of the Senate communications subcommittee, Burns held several closed-door sessions with all sectors of the communications industry to discuss universal-service reform.
Universal service is expected to be a major component of any rewrite of the telecom act.
