Coalition of Rural Telephone Cos. asked FCC to reconsider part of...
Coalition of Rural Telephone Cos. asked FCC to reconsider part of new universal service rules that determine support for wireless carriers’ mobile, shared-spectrum applications. Coalition said rules, devised for rural telcos, would determine disbursements for wireless carriers based on…
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“incongruent wireline concepts.” Rules base funding on customers’ fixed addresses and loop counts, which don’t work well for wireless environment, group said in July 5 petition for reconsideration: “The Commission should consider and adopt rules with respect to wireless applications that will not lead to gaming opportunities.” Coalition, which represents rural LECs in Kan., Minn. and Neb., said use of billing address “as a surrogate for the locations where mobile service is used lacks a valid conceptual framework.” It said billing address policy “will encourage arbitrary ‘customer location shopping’ by [wireless competitors] to game the system in a manner that undermines the policy basis for the provision of universal service support… in rural areas with high cost.” Rules also use long-time wireline concept of loop count for universal service support even though such counts aren’t defined for wireless, shared spectrum applications, coalition said. “The Commission has not proposed or examined what the equivalent measure should be for wireless applications.”