Wheeler Tells Lawmakers He Wants To Move Ahead With HCLS Mechanism
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler backs moving forward with the universal service program's high-cost loop support (HCLS) mechanism, he told Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., in a March 17 letter released last week. “We believe it is important to move forward with…
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implementation of this mechanism to ensure that universal service funds are being used as cost effectively and efficiently as possible,” Wheeler said, noting the FCC will be considering a petition for reconsideration from the National Congress of American Indians. “In the meantime, however, please be assured that we will closely monitor the effects of the interim HCLS mechanism on rate-of-return carriers, particularly those that serve Indian Country, and will revisit this issue in the event that it has unanticipated results,” he said. Wheeler sent a different letter on the same topic to other lawmakers March 16. The FCC Office of Native Affairs and Policy “is considering potential dates in 2015 when I can meet personally with the Tribally-owned rate-of-return carriers to discuss their concerns,” he said in a letter to Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M, and Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Reps. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., and Steve Pearce, R-N.M.