Rural telecom groups said Wed. they have ’serious concerns’ with ...
Rural telecom groups said Wed. they have “serious concerns” with recommendations for telecom reform by TeleConsensus, a new coalition. TeleConsensus -- which includes SBC, BellSouth, Verizon and NCTA -- was launched Tues. by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (CD…
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April 13 p6). But the Independent Telephone & Telecom Assn. (ITTA), NTCA, OPASTCO and the Western Telecom Alliance (WTA) said they're concerned about the coalition’s “apparent failure to take into account the distinct needs of community-based providers.” For example, they said, a “consumer voucher system” to distribute USF funds that the coalition backs would be “administratively unworkable and ignores the fact that the single greatest hurdle to high-quality telecommunications service in rural America is high network costs.” They said the voucher system would “inhibit rural carriers’ network deployment ability because there would be no consistent, long-term support for that network infrastructure.” The rural groups complained that the coalition lacks community-based carriers, adding that the firms the group represents emphasize urban areas. “The coalition’s failure to take into account the rural perspective could harm high-tech investment and jobs in those areas and result in policy detrimental to rural consumers and the communities in which they live and work,” the rural groups said.