:: November 20th, 2008 ::
WTA Unanimously Supports the Nomination of Jason B. Williams to Serve on the USAC Board of Directors
jason-b-williams-usac-board-nomination CC Docket Nos. 97-21 and 96-45
Archive for the ‘WTA News’ Category
:: November 14th, 2008 ::
WTA and OPASTCO Meet With FCC Offices to Discuss Comprehensive Universal Service and Intercarrier Comp Reform
:: November 3rd, 2008 ::
WTA/OPASTCO Urge November 4th FCC Vote on Negotiated Comprehensive Intercarrier Compensation -Universal Service Reform Plan
NTCA “Agrees With Substance of the Groups’ Modifications”
Either Delay in Vote or Vote for “Plan B” Very Damaging for Rural America and Slows Deployment of Broadband to “Last 15%”
WASHINGTON – The Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies (OPASTCO) and the Western Telecommunications Alliance (WTA) today strongly urged the FCC to keep the comprehensive intercarrier compensation – universal service reform plan on its Nov. 4 agenda for a vote. On Friday, Oct. 31, four FCC commissioners requested that FCC Chairman Martin delay the vote on the negotiated comprehensive plan. According to analysts’ reports, in response, the Chairman has distributed a “Plan B” to vote on if the commissioners continue to decline voting for the comprehensive plan. “Plan B” includes immediate reverse auctions, no broadband requirements, a new cap on the entire Universal Service Fund, and would be very damaging for rural America.
OPASTCO and WTA believe that a delay in the vote for the comprehensive plan, as negotiated by the two associations, means Plan B will become reality and will have extremely negative consequences for rural carriers and the rural customers they serve. “We worked in good faith with the FCC, communicating with all of the FCC commissioners’ offices to ensure that each office understood the negative affects a plan without these modifications would create,” OPASTCO President John Rose stated. “Delaying the vote from Nov. 4th will make it virtually impossible for the FCC to achieve such a beneficial comprehensive plan for rural areas.”
On Oct. 30, Communications Daily reported that “NTCA agrees with the substance of the groups’ modifications…,” according to Dan Mitchell, NTCA legal vice president.
“Cries to delay the vote, based purely on procedure and not on the impact the delay will have on rural ILECs’ ability to serve customers, are not in the best interest of rural America,” WTA Executive Vice President Kelly Worthington stated. “It will delay, perhaps indefinitely, the deployment of broadband to the last 15 percent, those customers who are isolated and very difficult to serve.”
The negotiated comprehensive intercarrier compensation – universal service reform plan offers the following benefits:
-Positive language addressing phantom traffic;
-Eliminating the identical support rule;
-Ensuring all rural carriers that are rate-of-return (RoR) regulated in the interstate jurisdiction automatically qualify for recovery of revenues associated with decreases in access rates;
-Ensuring all RoR carriers are able to recover revenues due to decreases in minutes of use
(MOU) and access lines over the next five years;
-Ensuring rural carriers are not financially responsible for transporting local calls beyond the boundaries of their local service areas;
-Allowing for automatic exceptions for the use of satellite to meet broadband build-out
requirements;
-Allowing rural carries who have made large broadband network investments in 2007 and
2008 to recover their investments.
Press Release:110308iccusfreform
:: October 29th, 2008 ::
WTA and OPASTCO Announce Major Rural Gains Achieved in FCC Reform Plan
Associations Applaud Chairman Martin’s Care for Rural Carriers and Their Customers
New, Vastly Improved Plan Offers Stable Revenue Flow to Rural Carriers For At Least Five Years
WASHINGTON – The Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies (OPASTCO) and the Western Telecommunications Alliance (WTA) today announced that they have achieved major improvements in the proposed comprehensive intercarrier compensation and universal service reform plan scheduled to be acted on by the Federal Communications Commission on November 4. Since the draft proposal was first presented to the full Commission by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, the two organizations had been working together on a daily basis to make positive modifications to the reform plan. In addition to meeting twice with each commissioner’s office and with the Wireline Competition Bureau, the organizations had numerous direct conversations with Chairman Martin, including a final conference call directly before the quite period began. Concessions gained by the close of these discussions include:
-Ensuring all rural carriers that are rate-of-return (RoR) regulated in the interstate jurisdiction automatically qualify for recovery of revenues associated with decreases in access rates;
-Ensuring all RoR carriers are able to recover revenues due to decreases in minutes of use (MOU) and access lines over the next five years;
-Ensuring rural carriers are not financially responsible for transporting local calls beyond the boundaries of their local service areas;
-Allowing for automatic exceptions for the use of satellite to meet broadband build-out requirements;
-Allowing rural carriers who have made large broadband network investments in 2007 and 2008 to recover their investments.
“I am pleased and impressed with FCC Chairman Martin’s genuine concern that the reform plan not unintentionally harm rural America,” OPASTCO Chairman Keith Oliver stated. “The Chairman welcomed constructive input to ensure rural subscribers were not adversely impacted by the reform.”
“The plan, as modified, is beneficial to rural subscribers and allows a stable revenue flow for at least five years for small incumbent companies that serve rural America,” WTA’s Executive Vice-President Kelly Worthington stated. “While no plan will ever be perfect, these negotiated alterations make it a better plan for rural America than the one originally proposed.”
In addition to the concessions listed above, the plan, as initially presented, contained several rural friendly provisions, including positively addressing phantom traffic and eliminating the identical support rule. The plan allowed rural RoR carriers the ability to recover access revenues lost as a result of rate reduction through a supplemental recovery mechanism. The plan also designated rural RoR carriers as the default broadband carrier of last resort and established the traditional telephone study area as the broadband support area.
The associations believe that although the plan is not perfect and there are aspects of it both associations would have liked to change, on balance the plan offers consideration to the unique problems associated with serving high cost rural America. OPASTCO and WTA look forward to working with the commission staff to develop the detailed rules that will be required to implement this plan if it gains full commission approval.
A joint ex parte notice for an October 28, 2008, conference call with the associations, telephone company representatives, and the FCC accompanies this press release.
:: October 29th, 2008 ::
WTA, OPASTCO Urge FCC to Confirm that Access Charges Apply to All Interexchange Traffic Terminiating on the PSTN, Including IP-Format Traffic
:: October 27th, 2008 ::
Letter from Telco Members Regarding ICC-USF Reform
October 27, 2008
Dear Fellow OPASTCO and WTA Members:
As members of the Boards of OPASTCO and/or WTA, we have been and continue to be active participants in many recent meetings with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding the Draft Intercarrier Compensation and Universal Service Order (”Draft Order”) being circulated by Chairman Kevin Martin to the other commissioners for consideration at the FCC’s November 4th meeting.
We would like to correct two rumors. First, neither OPASTCO nor WTA has determined whether to support or oppose the Draft Order. Second, neither OPASTCO nor WTA has ever supported a uniform $0.0007 access rate.
View Entire Letter
:: October 23rd, 2008 ::
FTC Extends Deadline for Compliance with “Red Flags” Rule
Telecommunications companies that would have had to implement identity theft prevention programs by November 1, 2008, have been given a reprieve until May 1, 2009. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has imposed a rule on all “financial institutions and creditors” requiring them to have in place identity theft prevention programs to identify, detect, and respond to patterns or specific activities that could indicate identity theft. Almost all telecommunications companies are considered creditors under the law because they let their customers pay after receiving services for a month and/or don’t cut off service even if a bill goes unpaid. According to the FTC, it found that many entities that are subject to the new rules were not aware of it or their responsibilities, which is the reason for the six-month extension. An FTC fact sheet on “Red Flags” can be found here: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/alerts/alt050.shtm and an FTC press release on the extension can be found here: www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/10/redflags.shtm
:: October 23rd, 2008 ::
