Phone-Fee Ruling May Impact
E-Rate Funding
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled May 21 that the Federal Communications Commission must review its 1997 decision to reduce the access fees that long-distance companies pay local companies to connect telephone calls. The ruling may have an adverse effect on funding for the FCC’s e-rate program of telecommunication discounts for libraries and schools.
Increased funding for the second year of the e-rate program is expected to result in an increase in the phone-bill surcharges that finance the program. A new round of access-fee reductions, totaling close to $1.1 billion and taking effect in July, was to have offset the boost in the e-rate surcharge, the CNet online news service reported May 24. If the access charges remain at their current level, the higher phone bills could result in pressure on the already beleaguered program from consumer groups and congressional critics.
An FCC spokeswoman told CNet the agency will ask that the decision be stayed while it files an appeal.
Posted May 31, 1999.
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