To receive universal service support funding in certain high-cost...
To receive universal service support funding in certain high-cost areas served by ILECs, Sprint has filed separate applications at the FCC in the last week for designation as an eligible telecom carrier (ETC) in N.Y., Tenn. and Va. In…
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the Tenn. filing Wed., Sprint said it was applying for ETC designation in parts of its licensed service area in the state served by BellSouth “for purposes of receiving federal universal service support.” It said it would use universal service support funding only to support the provision, upgrading and maintenance of its digital wireless network in Tenn., enabling it to speed the rollout of advanced wireless facilities that supported both basic wireless services and higher bandwidth. Sprint said it also would offer a reduced rate universal service package to subscribers eligible for Lifeline support. Sprint said its service offerings competed with those of BellSouth. It said the Tenn. Regulatory Authority had declared it didn’t have jurisdiction over ETC applications by CMRS carriers, dismissing a filing by Advantage Cellular Systems in April. In N.Y., Sprint said it was petitioning for ETC designation in the parts of its licensed service area served by Verizon and Frontier. In the case of Tenn., Sprint proposed ETC designation for a service area consisting of each of the BellSouth wire centers in the state in which PCS service was available over the Sprint network. “To the extent Sprint serves only a portion of the wire center, Sprint requests ETC designation only in that portion of the wire center where it provides service,” it said. In N.Y., Sprint proposed a service area covering each of the nonrural ILEC wire centers in which it offered PCS service over its network. In each case, Sprint told the FCC that granting its ETC request would serve the public interest by promoting additional deployment of wireless services to high-cost areas served by nonrural ILECs and ushering in additional competitive universal service offerings. Verizon last month told the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service the FCC shouldn’t act on pending ETC petitions until it addressed the growth in those applications and the resulting threat to the CALLS plan in nonrural areas.