CTC calls on Congress to sustain support of rural broadband access

Representatives from Chickamauga Telephone Company met with the offices of top state lawmakers in Washington, D.C., the week of March 27, to discuss the importance of ensuring sufficient resources are available to enable the ongoing delivery of high-speed broadband services to rural communities in Georgia.

Chickamauga’s representatives emphasized that despite reforms made by the Federal Communications Commission last year, millions of rural consumers continue to struggle with obtaining affordable “standalone broadband” services because the costs far exceed what urban consumers would pay for the same service.

CTC’s representatives, along with many other rural telecom representatives from all over the country, urged senators and representatives to encourage the FCC to act quickly to ensure sufficient resources are available to enable the Universal Service Fund programs that support rural areas to work as designed. They explained that certain programs of the USF are intended to give rural Americans the opportunity to obtain affordable broadband and to advance broadband deployment in high- cost rural areas, but lack of sufficient resources may be undermining their desired effect.

“We are concerned that these USF programs, some of which have remained capped at the same level for six years, may be falling short of achieving our country’s mandate to provide reasonably comparable telecommunications services at reasonably comparable rates to rural and urban Americans alike,” said Wes Ellis. “We think Congress has a role to play in encouraging the FCC to act.”