WASHINGTON-The universal-service fund should be paid for out of general revenues, not from taxes on telephone bills, said Philip M. Burgess, president and senior fellow of the Center for the New West, located in Denver.
“Where do you stop in saying who should pay for universal service … you should pay for universal service out of the general fund … there is no other way to pay for this because of convergence,” said Burgess.
Wireless carriers often complain they have to pay into the universal-service fund without garnering any benefits since the subsidies go to the incumbent local exchange carrier.
Burgess made his comments at a press conference releasing a report from the Center for the New West on the digital divide.
“Access to high-speed digital communications is to business what good running shoes are to the high-performance marathoner-a necessity, not a luxury … High-speed communications is an essential resource in the new economy, and high-speed Internet access must be available to every business enterprise in America’s new economy,” according to the report, “The `Other’ Digital Divide.”
The center’s report is the latest in a series of reports from think tanks and the government studying the impacts of the disparity of the rollout of data networks.
“The Clinton administration report [said] others are falling behind, and they are falling further behind … We found nothing to contradict those findings … that is to say that what [the National Telecommunications and Information Administration] had to say is on solid ground,” said Burgess.
The difference between those reports and the center’s report, Burgess said, is the center’s report was compiled from forums held around the western United States and in Washington, D.C., rather than a study of statistical data compiled by scientists.
In addition to calling for the universal-service fund to be financed by general revenues, Burgess called for the deregulation of the data networks.
“In the high-speed data networks, everyone is a new entrant. We do not want to see the cancer of regulation of the voice networks move to the data networks,” Burgess said.
Burgess said this can be accomplished even while maintaining a regulated voice network.
“I would like to deregulate it all … we are trying to do things as politics are today. The politics as they are today means we are not going to deregulate the voice network,” Burgess said.
Most of the blame, Burgess said, should be placed at the feet of the Federal Communications Commission. “Most of its policies are really created for the high density [areas] of the East Coast and West Coast,” said Burgess.
At various times during the briefing, Burgess called for allowing the Baby Bells-in this case
U S West Inc.-to offer data services across LATA (local access and transport area) boundaries. Solomon D. Trujillo, chairman and CEO of U S West, is the chairman of the board of trustees of the Center for the New West.
The release of the report was sponsored by Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), a board trustee, but he left before questions were taken from the media.
The availability of advanced telecommunications services in rural America has been a hot topic lately. The NTIA report cited rural location as a major deterrent to the availability of telecom services.
Burgess agreed. “If you have long distances, low density and difficult terrain, the prices sky rocket,” he said.
Additionally, FCC Chairman William Kennard met June 10 with a group of senators from farm states who want the FCC to subsidize Internet access to rural America in much the same way that basic phone service is subsidized. Kennard said he would consider the proposal but first would ask telecommunications carriers to comment on whether any FCC rules need to be changed to improve Internet access to rural America.
