Regulators should reject proposals that would reduce universal se...
Regulators should reject proposals that would reduce universal service funding by singling out wireless carriers, Alltel told the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service in a filing Tues. Doing so would conflict with goals of increasing rural phone penetration…
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and getting advanced services to underserved areas, Alltel said. A wireless- specific cap or a freeze on the number of wireless customers able to get subsidized service would hurt rural consumers, the company said: “Alltel recognizes the widespread interest in controlling the growth of the universal service fund. But such controls can and must be accomplished without compromising the principle of competitive neutrality or interfering with consumers’ access to wireless and broadband services.” If the joint board insists on a cap, it should look at a proposal by Bill Jack Gregg, W.Va. Consumer Advocate and a joint board member, that “would impose an inflation-adjusted cap on the support distributed to all carriers receiving universal service support in each geographic area,” Alltel wrote. Gregg’s proposal “would prevent undue growth in the overall level of funding while also spreading the impact of the fund growth limitation proportionately among all ETCs, including ILECs as well as wireless,” the company said.