WTA, GVNW Back RLEC Broadband USF Contribution Relief; Pennsylvania PUC Wants Overhaul

Rural interests supported a request for RLEC broadband relief from USF contributions while regulators review the industry mechanism funding the subsidy system. WTA urged the FCC to grant an NTCA/USTelecom petition for temporary forbearance from application of USF contribution requirements to RLEC-provided broadband internet transmission services until the FCC decides on how all broadband services should be treated. The relief "would put an end to the anomaly whereby some rural Internet access service customers bear the cost of substantial federal USF contributions on broadband transmission services while urban and most rural Internet access service customers do not," WTA commented this week in docket 17-206 responding to a public notice (see 1708140059). Granting the petition would be "a simple matter of fundamental fairness and good public policy," said GVNW Consulting, which works with rural carriers. It said forbearance also would "avoid the anti-competitive implications of a regime that picks 'winners and losers' in the broadband marketplace," somewhat mitigate the "high cost of broadband for rural consumers" and be "fully consistent" with other FCC pronouncements, including in its Communications Act "Title II proceeding and more recent USF reform efforts." Without opposing or supporting the petition, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission said the request "demonstrates disparate treatment" of broadband services and "underlines the need for the timely reform of the federal USF contribution base reform."