FCC pressured to act on 2-year-old SouthernLINC request

WASHINGTON-A bipartisan group of House lawmakers urged the Federal Communications Commission to act on SouthernLINC Wireless’ two-year-old request for eligibility to draw on universal service funds to serve rural areas in several Southeast states of its territory, including those the iDEN carrier managed to continue serving when other communications failed immediately following Hurricane Katrina last year.
“In order to continue providing high-quality wireless services to underserved rural areas and to ensure emergency communications throughout disaster recovery, SouthernLINC Wireless must continue to make significant investments in its network. Promptly granting the applications of SouthernLINC Wireless for designation as an ETC [eligible telecommunications carrier] in Alabama, Florida and Georgia would further the commission’s goals by facilitating the necessary investments,” stated Reps. Charlie Norwood (R-N.C.), Daniel Scott (D-Ga.), Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) and Nathan Deal (R-Ala.) in a recent letter to the FCC.