« Higa lawyers up to fight allegations | Main | Route 130 safety: Still 'no can' »

FCC to cap rural telecom fund

I came across this article last night, which sounds like bad news for any company counting on the USF  to prop up its bottom line. That includes Hawaiian Tel, serving the majority of telecom consumers in the state, Nextel and Sandwich Isles Communication, which is building an expensive statewide fiber optic network linking Hawaiian Home Lands. SIC and Nextel already get a combined $44 million a year from the USF. Hawaiian Tel is currently applying for $30 over five years because it has no reserves to invest in its telecom network.

Posted on Monday, May 5, 2008 at 08:16AM by Registered CommenterHunter Bishop in , | Comments2 Comments

PrintView Printer Friendly Version

EmailEmail Article to Friend

Reader Comments (2)

First of all, we all pay into this fund, Second, because of Rep. Bob Herkes this is partialy why Puna and Ka'u can use computers and got off party telehone lines _ very late in that regime.

I do not deny Hawaiian Homes its projecct (just wishI oculd tap into it.) Hawaiian Tel has failed us for generations and this fund really helps the rural folks. (From a guy who remembers Hilo with five digit phone numbers. home and biz)
May 5, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterhugh clark
I spent over 2 years fighting the Sandwich Isles fiber-optic project. It is huge boondoggle, which all taxpayers will be on the hook to be paying for. What especially burns me up is only people living on DHHL lands will be able to tap into this network.

Even though Puna and Ka'u are off party lines, the way HawTel engineered this change limits what services are available. According HawTel's petition, the local loops in Puna are really long. Which limit the availability of DSL service or in the future, IPTV.

In my opinion, the USF should be scrapped. There is no transparency in how the funds are used and boondoggle projects like Sandwich Isles excessively feeding at the trough.
May 6, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterAaron Stene

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
All HTML will be escaped. Hyperlinks will be created for URLs automatically.
Alert
Comment Moderation Enabled
Your comment will not appear until it has been cleared by a website editor.