2 See Comments of the United States Telephone Association at 6-10, Comments of NYNEX Corp. at 18-23.
3 Carriers would also provide service at discount rates, subject to the reimbursement provisions of the statute. See 47 U.S.C. ' 254(h)(1)(B)(i).
4 Comments of Bell Atlantic at 10.
5 Several state public service commissions and NARUC strongly supported state distribution of the interstate funds. See, e.g., Comments of the Georgia Public Service Commission at 3, Comments of the New York State Department of Public Service at 10-11. State distribution also received support from such diverse parties as MCI Telecommunications Corp. (at 12), Time Warner (at 23), and Southern New England Telephone Company (at 9).
6 Comments of Bell Atlantic at 8-10.
7 Price cap LECs, whose earnings are decoupled from costs, already have a substantial incentive to make their operations more efficient.
8 See e.g., Comments of AT&T Corp. ("AT&T") at 4-8, MCI Comments at 6.
9 AT&T at 6-7, citing 47 U.S.C. ' 252(d)(1). See also 47 U.S.C. ' 254(e).
10 Bell Atlantic Comments at 4-5.
11 AT&T, LCI International, Alaska Telephone Association, Citizens Utility, the New York Department of Public Service, and GTE, and several regional Bell operating companies, among others, all urge an expeditious access reform proceeding.
12 Capital recovery issues, that several parties addressed in their comments, are not appropriately addressed in this proceeding. See e.g., Comments of NECA at 10-11; BellSouth at n.10 and Att., n. 24; SBC Communications at n.4 and 23-25.
13 Interconnection Between Local Exchange Carriers and Commercial Mobile Radio Service Providers, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, CC Docket No. 95-185 at & 48 (rel. Jan. 11, 1996).
14 Expanded Interconnection with Local Telephone Company Facilities, 7 FCC Rcd 7369, 7429, n.291 (1992).
15 AT&T Ex Parte submission at 50 (filed Mar. 21, 1996).
16 United States Advisory Council on the National Information Infrastructure, KickStart Initiative (1996) at 92.
17 The carriers would recover the differential pursuant to the reimbursement mechanism specified in the statute. See 47 U.S.C. ' 254(h)(1)(B)(i).
18 If all schools elect to pursue a "Lab Model" as outlined in the KickStart Initiative, the monthly surcharge is expected to be about 25 cents. If all schools elected to pursue the "Classroom Model," which requires additional telecommunications services, the monthly surcharge would likely be about 35 cents. The actual surcharge will probably fall between these two figures and should be adjusted periodically to ensure that sufficient funds are available.
19 A suggested Internet access program for libraries appears in KickStart Initiative at 94-97.