FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 12, 2010
TIA Supports FCC Transition of High-Cost Universal Service to Broadband
Consensus Approach to Establishing Policy Goals and Focusing Solely on Essential Changes Proposed
Washington, D.C. – The Telecommunications Industry Association, which represents the companies that manufacture or supply the products and services used in the provision of broadband and broadband-enabled applications, today filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) strongly supporting the Commission's goal of reforming the high-cost universal service support mechanisms to explicitly support the deployment and provision of broadband to all Americans.
"TIA believes that a project of this scope must depart from a clearly understood set of goals, and therefore recommends that the Commission develop consensus on a shared set of policy goals for this proceeding," said TIA Vice President for Government Affairs Danielle Coffey. "The Commission should establish an appropriate, expedited transition from existing support mechanisms to new mechanisms that explicitly support broadband. In this regard, TIA believes that the proposed ten-year timeline is too long and proposes a five-year transition instead."
"The Commission is most likely to be successful in reforming support flows when it focuses solely on changes that are essential to its goals, and moves in predictable stages, allowing carriers and consumers to adjust," said Coffey. "The Commission should not make this task any larger than it needs to be or include secondary issues, which will only interfere with the likelihood that the over-arching goals of this proceeding can be achieved."
In its filing, TIA also urged the Commission to ensure that all elements of the new support mechanism – including particularly any cost model – is competitively and technology neutral. Any model also must estimate all broadband deployment costs, not just incremental costs, as some existing broadband service has depended on existing support.
Finally, TIA, which has long advocated for market-based mechanisms to distribute universal service funding, announced it supports the proposal to explore interim competitive procurement auctions and other similar mechanisms.
TIA commended the Commission for proposing to transition high-cost USF support toward next-generation broadband networks, to ensure that the benefits of such networks reach all Americans regardless of where they live and work.
Read TIA's comments filed with the FCC on its FCC filings page at tiaonline.org.
Sign up for RSS feeds on TIA news at tiaonline.org.
About TIA
The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) represents the global information and communications technology (ICT) industry through standards development, advocacy, tradeshows, business opportunities, market intelligence and worldwide environmental regulatory analysis. With roots dating back to 1924, TIA enhances the business environment for broadband, mobile wireless, information technology, networks, cable, satellite and unified communications. Members' products and services empower communications in every industry and market, including healthcare, education, security, public safety, transportation, government, the military, the environment and entertainment.
TIA is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Visit tiaonline.org.
TIA's Board of Directors includes includes senior-level executives from ADTRAN, Alcatel-Lucent, ANDA Networks, AttivaCorp, Cisco Systems, Ericsson, Inc., GENBAND, Inc., Henkels & McCoy, ILS Technology, Intel Corporation, Intersect, Inc., LGE, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia Siemens Networks, OneChip Photonics, Panasonic Computer Solutions Co., Powerwave Technologies, Qualcomm, Research In Motion, Sumitomo Electric Lightwave Corporation, Tellabs, Tyco Electronics, Ulticom, Inc., Walker & Associates and WirefreeCom, Inc. Advisors to the Board include ACS Solutions, FAL Associates, Openwave, Inc., and Telcordia Technologies.
##
