AUSTIN, Texas-Texas State District Judge Scott McCowan ruled a fee imposed on wireless providers to finance the Texas Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund is disproportionate to commercial radio service providers and therefore unconstitutional.
The amount the fund asks CMRS companies to pay was determined to be a tax by the court, and Texas law states that “all taxes must be uniform in application,” explained Mark Stachiw, legal counsel for AirTouch Paging in Texas and a lead attorney for Paging Carriers for a Fair Assessment, which spent months fighting to change the fee.
Under the fund’s present statute, the amount a telecom company must pay the state is a percentage of revenues. The state’s CMRS providers would have owed a combined $75 million annually for 10 years, as would telecommunications utilities companies. Since CMRS providers generate significantly less revenue than telecom utilities, the payment per company would be much higher. For telecom utility companies to produce a $75 million total, each company must pay about 1.3 percent of revenues, said Stachiw. McCowan also ruled CMRS providers must pay 1.3 percent.
The Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund is designed to equip schools and other public institutions with various media equipment.
Separately, Pittencrieff Communications Inc. is seeking federal action to pre-empt the Texas statute.
