WTA Recommends Suspension of BCM for Remainder of COVID Emergency

On May 28, representatives from WTA and five of its member companies discussed suspending the Budget Control Mechanism reductions for CAF-BLS companies for a year or at least for the remainder of the COVID-19 emergency with all five FCC Commissioner offices and the Wireline Competition Bureau.

WTA and its member companies argued that the requested BCM relief is warranted because the HCLS/CAF-BLS participants on the call and hundreds of other rural LECs (both HCLS/CAF-BLS recipients and model-based support recipients) have gone to extraordinary lengths and expense to meet the broadband needs of their service areas during this unprecedented world-wide crisis, and are suffering substantial and increasing financial hardships as they continue to serve more and more of their customers who are becoming unable to pay their monthly service bills.

A notice of ex parte representative of all the meetings can be found here.