The methodology used to assess regulatory fees is outdated, companies...
The methodology used to assess regulatory fees is outdated, companies and associations said in comments responding to a notice of proposed rulemaking on the collection and rate of the fees for fiscal 2010. Only a handful of comments were filed.…
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The FCC proposes to collect about $335.7 million in fees, the notice said. The FCC has used the same methodology since 1994, and it “fails to take account of the changes in the communications industry that have occurred in the intervening 16 years,” USTelecom said. The commission must find a way to “reflect the realities of its current regulatory activity in its regulatory fee assessments.” There should be a difference in UHF and VHF fees, Fireweed said. Lower UHF fees made sense when VHF was considered “superior,” but “since the transition to DTV, the advantage now resides with UHF,” the company said. But the American Association of Paging Carriers said although the FCC hasn’t changed the way it assesses CMRS messaging fees since 2003, “the unique circumstances applicable to the paging industry in 2003 still prevail."