Indian Group, Alexicon Back Gila River Bid for Waiver From High-Cost Loop Freeze
Two parties supported Gila River Telecommunications' petition for FCC waiver of a 2014 "National Average Cost Per Loop Freeze Decision," which took effect Jan. 1, 2016. The National Congress of American Indians said the freeze's impacts on Gila River's "bottom…
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line are staggering," with the company expecting to lose $896,000 in support in 2017 and further reductions after that. "Other providers seeking to serve residents in Indian Country are expecting similar excruciating cuts, leaving Indian Country farther behind in the Digital Divide," commented NCAI Tuesday in docket 10-90, responding to a public notice (see 1709070027). The group noted it has a petition pending to reconsider the 2014 decision. Alexicon Telecommunications Consulting, which works with carriers serving tribal lands, said the FCC changed the way a high-cost loop support (HCLS) indexed cap rule was applied to address a "cliff effect" where carriers close to a national average loop cost risked losing all support. The freeze "spread the effects of the indexed cap among all carriers on a proportional basis," Alexicon commented. "While this helped with the 'cliff effect' it also resulted in reduced, sometimes dramatically so, HCLS for many companies." It said Gila River "has done everything in its power" to help the FCC make a decision, submitting its original petition "over 700 days ago," providing "substantial" supporting information and filing "almost continual updates."