WTA and NTCA Meet with FCC to Discuss USF Eligible Expenses

On February 22, representatives from WTA and NTCA met with staff from Chairman Pai’s and Commissioner O’Rielly’s office to urge the FCC to provide clear and tailored guidance regarding the eligibility of certain expenses for recovery via high-cost USF support and/or regulated interstate rates. While the Associations expressed such support for clearer guidance regarding the recoverability of specifically delineated expense categories, they cautioned at the same time against, and objected to, any far-ranging, open-ended language in either a new rule or order text that could be read to recast, restate, or recharacterize decades of settled cost recovery standards and jurisprudence.