Carriers Tout 'Consensus' on Alaska USF Changes
Alaska would shift to connections-based contribution for state USF under a joint proposal by many of the state’s local exchange carriers. The Alaska attorney general’s regulatory affairs and public advocacy (RAPA) section urged the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) Monday to adopt the Friday-filed plan, which would push back an imminent sunset of the Alaska USF (AUSF) by three years to June 30, 2026. “By that time, the focus of significant federal infrastructure funding in Alaska will be better known, and the Commission will have more information that it may use to determine the best AUSF policy for the long term,” said the proposal.
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The “consensus proposal” included Alaska Communications, GCI, the Alaska Remote Carrier Coalition and Matanuska Telecom Association. ARCC and MTA earlier submitted competing proposals in docket R-21-001. RAPA, which participated in talks but didn’t sign Friday’s submission, said it doesn’t oppose the proposal and supported it as a way to extend AUSF. CTIA and Securus didn’t join the LEC talks. CTIA declined to comment Tuesday.
The LEC signers “worked diligently and cooperatively" with RAPA "to resolve various policy concerns," they said. “The consensus proposal reflects reasonable compromises from all of the LEC commenters and RAPA advocacy positions.” Some RCA commissioners earlier questioned why they should keep AUSF past the June 2023 sunset (see 2209280053). The RCA is likely to discuss AUSF at its Oct. 26 meeting, an agency spokesperson told us Tuesday.
The proposal would require a comprehensive AUSF review to start by June 30, 2024. For the next three years, Alaska would use a connections-based method with an initial surcharge of $1.99 per voice connection monthly, applicable to intrastate wireline, interconnected VoIP and wireless, said the plan: “This will enhance sustainability of AUSF for the next three years, despite generally declining intrastate telecommunications revenues.” The change wouldn’t apply to inmate call providers, which would still pay “a flat percent charge on applicable monthly fees and charges,” it said.
Alaska wouldn’t be the first state to switch to connections-based contribution, argued the plan’s supporters. “The proposal would stabilize the fund and generate roughly $22.9 million in annual funding.” For consumers, a $1.99 monthly fee surcharge isn't "a significant economic burden to help preserve and advance universal service over LEC networks to the benefit of all consumers -- wireline and wireless.” The change is competitively neutral, they added.
AUSF distribution will return to frozen, essential network support amounts from 2016, but with two changes, said the proposal. The LECs proposed a 15% interim remote factor, "which allocates $1.7 million of support from the largest LECs connected by the road system to Anchorage, to the other, smaller LECs that are not on the road system." And the plan would remove the current 10% revenue rate cap. Also, the AUSF proposal would add reporting requirements in an effort to enhance accountability.
The distribution proposal responds to RCA concerns that AUSF benefits carriers on the road system, said the LEC group. "That the LECs and RAPA were able to reach agreement on this allocation, with the broad diversity of the interests and positions that was reflected in their prior comments in this docket, reflects that the IRF provides a reasonable, balanced adjustment to the allocation of the previous 2016 ENS levels.”
The RCA must not let AUSF sunset, agreed the plan’s authors and the Alaska AG section. There remains “significant need for AUSF to promote the availability and affordability of universal local telephone service,” said the LEC group. In addition to Alaska's unique topographic, climate and other challenges, state USF is important due to federal USF reductions, inflation and supply chain disruptions, they said. “If the AUSF were eliminated, it would significantly impact LECs’ ability to operate, maintain, and improve essential local telephone networks and create additional pressure to increase local rates, which would harm universal service and the public interest." AUSF is "a significant tool for meeting the important policy goal of ensuring access to telecommunications for all citizens, regardless of where they live or their financial status,” said RAPA.
Securus supports the LECs' proposal to keep a revenue-based contribution mechanism for intrastate telecom services provided to incarcerated individuals in Alaska state facilities, a Securus spokesperson said Tuesday. Securus recommended that in June.
The California Public Utilities Commission plans to vote Oct. 20 on a connections-based contribution mechanism. President Alice Busching Reynolds delayed voting on the item that was originally scheduled for last week (see 2210050038). Other states with connection-based contribution include Nebraska, Oklahoma and Utah.