Rural Telco Associations Ask FCC to Reconsider USF Reforms

Three organizations representing small rural telcos filed a petition for reconsideration and clarification with the Federal Communications Commission on various aspects of the Universal Service and inter-carrier compensation reform order adopted late last year. Signing the petition were the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies (OPASTCO), the Western Telecommunications Alliance (WTA) and the National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA).

Notably, the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA), which often joins the other rural telco associations on joint filings, did not participate in the petition—perhaps because the NTCA is pursuing a legal challenge to the USF reform order instead.

OPASTCO, the WTA and NECA are asking the FCC to reconsider three key areas:

1. The order does not address how broadband Universal Service funding to rate-of-return carriers would be allocated, yet it imposes new service mandates (i.e., the deployment of broadband services). “The commission should make sure sufficient and predictable funding is in place before imposing new service mandates,” the announcement about the filing states.
2. The FCC should reconsider or modify plans to cap high-cost support, to establish a “reasonably comparable” rate floor and to phase out safety net additive support.
3. The FCC should reconsider its approach to examining petitions for waiver of new rules and support limitations and reduce the burdens on small companies associated with new reporting requirements. “Changes are needed to the commission’s method for prescribing a new interstate authorized rate of return, as well as several of the ICC provisions of the order.”