WASHINGTON-For commercial mobile radio services carriers, passage of the Telecommunications Reform Bill of 1996 contains both good and bad news. The good news is that CMRS operators can provide local exchange services. The bad news is that they will be expected, down the road, to pay into a newly revamped universal-service mechanism.
A notice of proposed rulemaking released by the Federal Communications Commission March 8 contains recommendations that could become the backbone of an updated policy governing which services should be deemed as essential to low-and no-income subscribers, how much of their costs will be subsidized by a carrier, how much a carrier will pay into a Universal Service Fund and how much a carrier can withdraw from the fund to reimburse itself for high-cost area coverage.
The commission seeks comment on universal-service issues that go beyond just providing basic voice services to the economic or locationally challenged, such as advanced telecom and information services (and their costs); what services should be considered as being “essential,”-like 911, touchtone, access to operator services and performance levels.
While never referring directly to wireless service providers, the proposed statute clearly indicates that it will cover any interstate carrier that provides direct services to a subscriber: “The [Telecom] Act defines the term `telecommunications carrier’ as `any provider of telecommunications services’ and the term `telecommunications service’ as `the offering of telecommunications for a fee directly to the public or to such classes of users as to be effectively available to the public, regardless of the facilities used.’ “
Under the strictest interpretation of the NPRM, data-only carriers, including advanced messaging providers, also could be subject to universal-service strictures. In the past, only the incumbent LEC and/or the rural telco was eligible for any involvement in a universal-service plan; however, today’s deregulated marketplace will require those who “walk like a duck and talk like a duck” to be liable for mandatory participation.
Besides individual subscribers, universal-service beneficiaries in the new incarnation will include schools and health care facilities, and those families or individuals who have no access to residential services-like the homeless or those who live in remote areas. It is in these instances that wireless facilities probably will come into play.
The mobile community already has taken some steps to ensure that schools in selected jurisdictions have been hooked up to the information superhighway via cellular links, and this program could be expanded.
A federal/state joint board has been appointed to review comments in FCC Docket 96-45, which are due April 8. The board includes FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, who will act as chairman; Commissioners Andrew Barrett and Susan Ness; Julia Johnson of the Florida Public Service Commission; Kenneth McClure of the Missouri PSC; Sharon Nelson of the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission; Laska Schoenfelder of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission; and Martha Hogarty, Missouri’s public counsel. It is not known how much of an active role Barrett will play due to his impending departure from the FCC.
