Let's keep our eye on the broadband prize

[Commentary] Engebreston is tired of hearing some rural telcos complain about how the National Broadband Plan wants to take money from the rate-of-return telcos and give it to the price cap carriers.

One problem with that argument is that it’s not a foregone conclusion that the price-cap carriers are the ones who will benefit from proposed Universal Service reforms. It’s true that reformers want to redirect funding to unserved areas, which are largely in areas where the incumbent is a price cap carrier. But that doesn't mean funding for unserved areas has to go to the incumbent. As currently envisioned, another carrier could potentially step in to offer service. The biggest problem with the price cap versus rate-of-return carrier argument, though, is that it totally overlooks the end customer’s point of view. If I reside in a rural area where there is no broadband service, do rural carriers really want me to continue to be without service just because the incumbent happens to be a price cap carrier? Why should I be penalized for that? I just want broadband. Engebreston thinks every rural telco would agree that we need to make nationwide availability of broadband a national priority -- that means all Americans, even the ones unfortunate enough to live in price cap territories in rural areas. And Engebreston believes rural telcos would find a more receptive audience to their concerns if they would focus more on what proposed reforms mean to rural consumers, and not quite so much on what they mean to rural telcos.