The telecommunications industry is currently undergoing significant changes. This process has been ongoing for some time, but change is rapidly accelerating in small and rural ILEC service areas due in large part to last week’s decision by the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") to reform the Federal Universal Service Fund ("FUSF") and Intercarrier Compensation ("ICC") programs. While the written 500 page order has not yet been released, the FCC Order includes adoption of a new local rate benchmark for basic local residential service.

In 2012, the benchmark floor is expected to be $10 per month; in 2013, this amount may increase to $14 per month; and in 2014, the amount will be determined by a study to be conducted by the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau to identify the national average local residential service rate, which will then become the price floor. An earlier study reported that the national average basic local service rate for residential service was slightly above $15.60, suggesting that the national average rate in 2014 might be around $16.00 per month.

The current proposed rate increase of $2.65 per month will take effect December 1, 2011, increasing the current residential monthly access line rate from $6.75 to $9.40 per month.

In an ongoing effort to educate the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on the importance of maintaining adequate broadband service in rural America, General Manager Delbert Wilson hand-delivered a video entitled “Together We Are Rural America” to the FCC.  This video, which was produced in-house by Hill Country employees, has also been forwarded to State and National Congressional leaders and officials.   

 

Arlington, Va., (June 24, 2010) - In testimony before the U S Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Delbert Wilson, General Manager of Hill Country Telephone Cooperative (Ingram, Texas), said the FCC's national broadband plan (NBP) fails to recognize the value of cost recovery mechanisms, including universal service, in bringing the promise of broadband to all Americans.

 

Wilson testified on behalf of the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA), the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies (OPASTCO) and the Western Telecommunications Alliance (WTA), representing 1100 rural telephone cooperatives and companies across the Nation at the Senate hearing, "Universal Service: Transforming the High-Cost Fund for the Broadband Era."