South Carolina Public Service Commission considers adding universal fees to mobile phone bills

Is making a call on your mobile phone the same as calling on a traditional landline in South Carolina? If the state Public Service Commission (PSC) says it is, you likely will face a higher monthly mobile phone bill in the future. Representatives of the burgeoning wireless phone industry and the shrinking landline phone business argued before the PSC about whether they compete for the same customers. At issue is the universal service fund, which is mandated by federal law to increase access to affordable phone service in rural areas where it’s costly to extend and maintain lines.

A shrinking pool of landline customers pay a fee for the fund but the swelling tide of wireless customers currently do not pay. State law provides that phone services in competition with landline carriers may be subject to the universal service fund fee. Landline phone companies emphatically say mobile phone service directly competes with the landline phone service they provide. But the wireless industry contends the two services are not in competition.