Mont. Independent Telecom Systems (MITS), which represents small ...
Mont. Independent Telecom Systems (MITS), which represents small phone companies in Mont. and some parts of N.D., Nev. and Wyo., said the FCC should develop public interest criteria to be applied to competitive carriers seeking eligible telecom carrier (ETC)…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
designation. ETC status is needed before a carrier can receive universal service funding. In a Jan. 2 ex parte filing with the FCC, MITS said the Telecom Act required state commissions to weigh the public interest before designating an additional ETC in an area served by a rural telephone company, but it didn’t define how the term applies to ETC designation. The group said the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service should recommend that the FCC establish minimum guidelines that states could use to weigh ETC applications. In addition, “states should be free to establish public interest criteria beyond the threshold established by the FCC in order to address unique circumstances on a state-by-state basis,” the filing said. There should be 6 basic criteria, MITS said: (1) The economic benefit should “exceed the economic cost.” (2) The entire service area for which designation is sought should be served no later than 2 years after the date of the ETC designation. (3) The carrier should be able to provide service without blocked or dropped calls caused by network congestion. (4) The designation would be subject to withdrawal if the carrier couldn’t meet the network congestion requirement within a year. (5) Competitive carriers should file annual universal service cost reports, modeled after one required of members of the National Exchange Carriers Assn. (6) Competitive carriers should meet service quality standards that states already required of incumbent LECs. “MITS and its member companies are greatly concerned that the wholesale designation of additional ETCs in rural areas may not always be in the public interest,” the organization said.