WASHINGTON-A coalition of rural wireline carriers is stamping out its ground on telecom reform as Congress and the Federal Communications Commission consider issues including universal service, intercarrier compensation and a rewrite of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
“Our policies are integral to the continued deployment and maintenance of telecommunications network infrastructure that delivers the advanced telecom services upon which consumers rely to meet their economic, security, and entertainment needs,” said Shirley Bloomfield, vice president of government affairs and association services at the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, a leading member of the Coalition to Keep America Connected. “It is critical that Congress and the FCC codify policies that will ensure the integrity of our telecommunications network for businesses throughout the country and for all consumers, no matter where they live.”
As for intercarrier compensation, the group is warning against phantom traffic, which is network activity that cannot be billed-either no one claims the traffic or the originator cannot be identified. The situation can eat into carriers’ bottom lines since network time and resources are being used but no one is getting paid.
On the universal-service front, the Coalition to Keep America Connected wants the universal-service fund to continue to be paid for by using carrier contributions rather than by taxes. Carriers should continue to directly receive support, as they do today, rather than transforming the system into one where state regulators or someone else is given a block grant and then contracts with the carriers to offer a service.
