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DC Surprise: Serious Telco Plan For Broadband For All
Tuesday, 03 November 2009 23:08
It's time to save money by giving everyone broadband + voice over broadband rather than PSTN voice, I learned five years ago from Matt Bross of BT, Bill Smith of BellSouth, Mark Wegleitner and other tech leaders. Now, D.C. regular John Rose, head of OPASTCO, the small carrier association,  sees "turning off the PSTN" the smart move for his members. The future will see "the public switched telephone network fully converted to a broadband network."

"Rose doesn't look like a revolutionary, but  suggesting "All intercarrier compensation (ICC) rates transition down to zero over seven years," is a major change in telco requests. The OPASTCO proposals (below) also include major subsidies. The revolutionary part is paying for the universal broadband by bringing down network costs, There are enormous savings because you can use cheap standard equipment; don't need large engineering staffs; can centrally upgrade customers, ... .

Create a new Universal High Speed Broadband Fund, which would support the major
components of providing high-speed broadband service – last-mile loops costs, middlemile
transport costs, and access to the Internet backbone.
• The plan would support one fixed technology high-speed network provider in each rural
service area. It also allows for one mobile wireless provider in each area to be supported.
Support amounts are based on a demonstration of actual costs that exceed a qualifying
threshold.
• Rural ILECs can “opt-in” to the new Fund at any time during a seven-year transition
period. Once a rural ILEC opts in, all high-cost support is received via the new Fund. At
the time of opt-in, a rural ILEC would immediately begin receiving the support amount
that they were presently receiving from the existing mechanisms, as a starting point.
Those ILECs choosing not to opt in immediately continue to receive support through the
existing mechanisms.
• All intercarrier compensation (ICC) rates transition down to zero over seven years, and
the ICC revenues that rural ILECs are receiving at the time they opt in would gradually
transition into the support received from the new Fund, as the ICC rates are reduced.
• At the end of the seven year transition period, the existing rural high-cost support
mechanisms and ICC regime are eliminated, and carriers are recovering their broadband
network costs through a combination of affordable end-user rates and support from the
new Fund. At that time, the public switched telephone network is fully converted to a
broadband network.
• All fixed technology providers receiving support through the new Fund must commit to
offering broadband throughout the service area at speeds that are at least equal to the
national average broadband speed, and end-user rates that are reasonably comparable to
the national average rate. Support recipients must also make their network available to
other retail providers on a common carrier basis and submit to quality of service
oversight.
• The Low Income program is expanded to support broadband Internet access service for
qualifying consumers.
• Contributions to all Universal Service Fund programs, including the new High Speed
Broadband Fund, is to be based on a combination of working telephone numbers and
public network connections, including all broadband connections in service, regardless of
technology.