WTA Backs USF Budget Control Mechanism Waiver

WTA asked an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to extend the current waiver of the budget control mechanism for rural cost-based Connect America Fund broadband loop support and high-cost loop support recipients, said an ex parte posted Thursday in docket 10-90 (see 2204110062). The group said more than half its rural LEC members rely on the funding and its smaller members may lose "between a quarter and a half million dollars a year." The estimated support reductions "would impair the ability of affected RLECs to extend and upgrade their broadband networks, repay loans, maintain service quality and retain their staffs," the group said. It asked for "an early ruling on the extension ... to simplify the scheduled June 2022 annual access tariff filings."