Hawaiian Telcom Seeking Universal Service Fund Support
In my opinion,Hawaiian Telcom is being a a bit of a hypocrite by petitioning the FCC for a waiver so it can qualify for high cost universal service fund support. It wasn’t more than 3 years ago Hawaiian Telcom filed comments opposing Sandwich Isles Communications eligibility for high cost universal service fund support.
I spent last night reading all the documents pertaining to this petition by Hawaiian Telcom. Both Sandwich Isles and Pacific LightNet filed comments in response to HT’s petition. Strangely enough, Sandwich Isles ha a much more positive view of this petition than Pacific LightNet. As long as Hawaiian Telcom didn’t use the money to overbuild on DHHL lands, it didn’t seem SIC had a problem. On the other hand Pacific LightNet has huge issues with Hawaiian Telcom trying to get high cost universal service support. Which in a way is not surprising since PLNI is HT’s competitor.
Pacific LightNet seems to be not the only entity with problems with Hawaiian Telcom’s petition.According to Hawaiian Telcom’s rebuttal comments, states like Vermont,Maine and South Dakota have expressed opposition.
Overall, based on the latter, it seems to me Hawaiian Telcom will have a huge uphill battle to get this petition approved by the FCC.
April 20, 2008 at 11:20 am
Aaron: I know you are aware of the absurd amount of money that flows through the USF to provide services that are commercially available at much lower rates, but I think it should be reiterated in every mention of the USF that it’s an incredible boondoggle, with payouts to the providers on the order of _tens of thousands_ of dollars per year per subscriber to provide phone and Internet service.
Aaron-Yup, I’m fully aware of the huge boondoggle the USF is. Try doing a Google search on “Sandwich
Isles Communications.” It will blow your mind what 400 million in our taxpayer dollars is being used to build
here locally. I spent 4 years fighting this project to no avail.