Verizon seeking USF money for rural LTE buildout

Verizon Wireless executives are pushing a proposal at the Federal Communications Commission that would funnel government subsidies to rural carriers that enter into the operator's LTE licensing program.

If Verizon's effort is approved, rural carriers that license LTE spectrum from Verizon could receive money from the government's Universal Service Fund to aid in the rollout of LTE network technology in underserved areas of the country. Verizon executives Chris Miller, Maggie McCready and Tamara Preiss this week met with representatives from FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker's office, as well as staff from the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and Wireline Competition Bureau to discuss the proposal. The FCC is working to overhaul the outdated Universal Service Fund--intended to help fund the deployment of telecommunications services in rural America--as part of its overarching national broadband plan. The cell phone industry has argued that wireless is an ideal technology to bring telecommunications to rural areas since cell towers generally cover more people at a lower cost than wired transmission lines.