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Rural Americans Deserve More Than Joint Board's Recommendations on Universal Service Fund Reform

Posted on: Monday, 26 November 2007, 18:00 CST

CHICAGO, Nov. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- The following statement is by John E. Rooney, President & CEO of U.S. Cellular: The Recommended Decision issued by the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service -- released on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday -- is nothing to give thanks for. In fact, it is about as far away from true reform as one can get. These recommendations represent a turn-of-the-clock back to an era of monopoly providers and inadequate service and thwart what Congress set out to accomplish with the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

By proposing to cap USF support to wireless carriers, the Joint Board would deprive rural America of hundreds of millions of dollars in new wireless investment. It further recommends that each rural geographic area be served by a single wireless carrier forcing rural Americans into a federally regulated and subsidized monopoly system.

This is the problem Congress intended to solve when it created the USF to make sure that rural communities are not left behind as new telecommunications technologies emerge. If enacted, this recommendation would undermine that essential goal and further widen the technological gap between urban and rural America. USF mechanisms are supposed to work with competition -- not create barriers to competition -- so that rural consumers can choose the services that best suit their needs.

Rural consumers are increasingly "cutting the cord" and choosing wireless. Despite this inevitable shift, the Joint Board would continue to fund landline companies at $3 billion per year, even as they steadily lose customers. Since 1999, landline phone companies have drawn more than $25 billion in funding, much of it from contributions made by wireless consumers, while less than $3 billion has gone to rural wireless carriers. If the FCC is serious about controlling fund growth, then landline companies should lose support when they lose customers, just like wireless carriers do today.

More than 12,000 concerned citizens have written to Congress and the FCC opposing the proposed cap. Elected officials from state governors to county sheriffs have urged the FCC to preserve this much needed federal funding. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the National Grange and the League of Rural Voters have spoken out about the public safety and economic development benefits that wireless service provides.

U.S. Cellular will continue to vigorously advocate before Congress and the FCC in favor of policies that support all consumers, not any individual carrier or technology. We believe that is what is right for our customers -- and for all consumers across the country. For more information, please visit http://www.connectingruralamerica.org/.

U.S. Cellular

CONTACT: Media Relations, Jeffrey Smith of U.S. Cellular,+1-773-399-7067, Jeffrey.Smith3@uscellular.com; or Public Relations Counsel,Margarite Wypychowski, margarite@grisko.com, or Leah Martin, both for U.S.Cellular, +1-312-335-0100

Web site: http://www.connectingruralamerica.org/

Source: PRNewswire

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