The FCC acted within its authority when it denied petitions...
The FCC acted within its authority when it denied petitions from Maine and Vermont regulators to increase Universal Service Fund support to rural carriers, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said Friday. Under…
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a “narrow” order responding to a 10th Circuit decision in the so-called Qwest II case, the FCC defined “reasonably comparable” rates “as requiring rural area rates to fall within two standard deviations of the average national urban rate,” Judge David Tatel wrote in Friday’s 21-page decision on behalf of himself and Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson and Thomas Griffith. Trying to comply with the 10th Circuit’s Qwest II remand requiring it to “preserve and advance universal service” through its definition of reasonably comparable, the FCC pointed out (CD Sept 19 p10) that telephone subscriptions were at an all-time high and “concluded that the two-standard-deviation definition had actually helped advance universal service,” Tatel said in the ruling. Vermont and Maine regulators challenged the order, claiming the Qwest II decision “expressly directs the Commission to revise its two-standard-deviation high-cost support mechanism.” Tatel said “Vermont misreads Qwest II.” Neither the state regulators nor their attorney responded to requests for comment.