COMPTEL to Congress: Help Us Stop FCC ICC/USF Vote

COMPTEL on Monday asked 106 Congressional lawmakers to pressure the FCC not to vote on proposed intercarrier compensation/Universal Service Fund (ICC/USF) reform on Dec 18. "Comments are due Nov. 26 and reply comments are due Dec. 3," wrote COMPTEL President Matt Salmon. "With the Thanksgiving holiday cutting into this timeframe, this essentially gives the Commission 17 days to wade through what is expected to be hundreds of thousands of pages. In addition, the commission must then issue a draft order and circulate it. In my opinion, I don't see how it is possible to do that in a thoughtful manner with such a short amount of time given for the process." Salmon emphasized that COMPTEL and its member companies "do not want to appear ungrateful, nor is it our intention to try to hold up the process." Rather, he said, the association hopes to slow the commission's sudden speed in trying to revamp the ICC and USF systems. There is no real urgency attached to either regime, Salmon said. "The abbreviated comment period hardly allows for any real analysis or digestion on the commission's part of issues that could dramatically alter the entire telecommunications industry," he added.