If Universal Service reform were a TV reality series, we would now be watching the penultimate episode. The FCC apparently has narrowed the proposals it is considering down to three. These include the America’s Broadband Connectivity Plan submitted by the nation’s largest telcos last week, also known as the ABC plan (CP: AT&T, Verizon and other price cap carriers send broadband USF proposal to FCC); a proposal submitted by several rural telco associations, known as the RLEC plan and a proposal from the state members of the Federal-State Universal Service Joint Board.
In a request for comment released yesterday, the FCC asks for input on a range of questions related to the three proposals, such as whether there should be separate support mechanisms for fixed and mobile broadband, what role states should play in administering reforms, how access charge recovery mechanisms should be structured for price cap and rate of return carriers, whether originating access charges should be part of USF reforms, and how access charges from VoIP carriers should be collected, among other things.
Unlike with TV competitions like American Idol and America’s Next Top Model, however, the FCC may not anoint a single take-all winner. Instead the commission is likely to adopt bits and pieces of different proposals.
Interested parties had better hurry, though. The FCC is giving them just three weeks to comment, followed by a one-week reply comment period.