A report issued by the Federal Communications Commission last week recommends a substantial reduction in the rate of return that the nation’s smallest telephone companies earn through the inter-carrier compensation (ICC) system. Since 1990 that rate has been 11.25% but if the recommendations made by...
Learn More
There has been some tension in the marketplace regarding broadband and voice service, particularly in rural markets. It stems from growing consumer demand for standalone broadband – that is subscribing to broadband without the requirement for an accompanying voice line (sometimes referred to as naked...
Learn More
The man who was charged with crafting a plan to bring broadband to all Americans isn’t happy about the way that plan is being implemented. Currently with the Aspen Institute, Blair Levin headed up the team at the FCC that three years ago created the...
Learn More
When the FCC determines how much support to offer price cap carriers to bring broadband to areas that do not have broadband today in Phase 2 of the Connect America Fund program, the funding offered will be calculated based on the assumption that the carrier...
Learn More
CenturyLink, Frontier and Windstream made another attempt Friday to persuade the FCC to release Phase 1 Connect America Funds for broadband construction projects in rural areas that currently do not have broadband service. The carriers are now offering to match whatever funding the commission releases...
Learn More
The rural telecom industry seems to have caught the attention of legislators. Yesterday two members of the House of Representatives announced the formation of a bipartisan working group of the Energy and Commerce Committee that will work to “promote rural telecommunication issues within the Committee.”...
Learn More
John Strode, vice president of external affairs for rural telco Ritter Communications, today offered the easiest-to-understand definition of quintile regression analysis that I’ve heard yet – and I’ve heard a lot of people try to explain the controversial statistical methodology, which the FCC has been...
Learn More
Two rural telecom industry groups are asking Congress to pass legislation that would impose a 180-day time-out on the implementation of reforms to the Universal Service program. “It is more important than ever for members of Congress to ensure that specific reforms of the USF...
Learn More
Small rural telcos are less likely to see their payments from the Universal Service fund reduced as the result of an order released yesterday from the Federal Communications Commission. According to an estimate provided by FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, the number of carriers whose funding...
Learn More
More than two-thirds (69%) of small telephone companies have postponed or canceled plans to upgrade their landline communications networks because of uncertainty about Universal Service and inter-carrier compensation reform, according to data released today by rural broadband association NTCA. The NTCA estimates the total value...
Learn More
A variety of people have questioned the accuracy of the National Broadband Map, which is expected to be used to determine which areas are eligible for Connect America funding. But one North Carolina organization is not just complaining – it has taken steps to generate...
Learn More
The telecom industry seems to be taking increased interest in how to get more people to adopt broadband, as an FCC broadband adoption workshop on Thursday illustrated. Two of the biggest reasons more people who could get broadband don’t subscribe to it are cost and...
Learn More
