You assume people who sleep under the bridge don't have phones? Also, not everyone pays income tax, only those with income, in fact only those with income over some minimum level. And who can't afford tax shelters.
Regarding Centurylink, let's come back to the guy sleeping under the bridge. There is an old dilemma, if you give him $5 for a sandwich, what is to keep him from spending it on booze? So instead you buy him a sandwich. But if that frees up $5 he was going to spend on a sandwich anyway, now he has money for booze. Same with USF. If the telco was going to upgrade anyway, but gets USF money to do it, now they have money to do something else. In fact they have an incentive NOT to spend their own money on upgrades, but rather to let service deteriorate below the "unserved" threshold so they can get CAF money. They might even use that subsidy to deploy 10M DSL instead of fiber, in hopes of getting another subsidy down the road to upgrade again, once the threshold is raised to 25M or 100M. I think it comes back to why do these companies like Frontier and CenturyLink pay $2000 per subscriber to buy assets from Verizon and AT&T, and then cry that they don't have money for maintenance or upgrades because the areas are unprofitable? If they are unprofitable, shouldn't the price to take them off Verizon and AT&T's hands have been closer to zero? And if they didn't have the debt service from the purchase price, would they have enough money for maintenance and upgrades? The only way I can make sense of this is the purchase price assumed subsidies, in fact the whole strategy seems to have been to get the subsidies. Why else would you buy up rotting copper with fleeing customers and no wireless infrastructure? New kids book: If You Give An ILEC A Cookie -----Original Message----- From: Af [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chuck McCown Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2016 2:56 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] T-Tommy Wheeler staying corrupt to the very end Public means applies to all. All There are lots of folks that get by without phone service. Some use ham radios. Some write letters. Some sleep under the bridge. It is not impressed on all like income tax. Only that use the PSTN have to pay in. Century Link is a price cap publically traded ILEC. I can pretty much assure there was zero cross subsidization from the USF for the purposes of acquiring capital assets. I know the USAC auditors better than that. -----Original Message----- From: Faisal Imtiaz Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2016 1:42 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] T-Tommy Wheeler staying corrupt to the very end Are we being Legal Definition accurate ? or being colloquial ? >The USF is not and was not and never will be a public subsidy. ??? it is a mandatory "Contribution" to the FCC's Slush Fund, on all providers, who (the telco's) have the right to 'recover' it from it's customers, and the beneficiary recipient of this Fund are the Telco's (ILEC's ? ) Considering the flow of money.... I would colloquially beg to differ :) ...I wonder where did Century Link found all the $$$ to go on a buying spree. > What is more - public money - tax money - was never used to build the > PSTN as is frequently erroneously cited. > The Guvmnt dumped bazillions of dollars into AT&T (does it matter for > what ? ) and Yes, these is a big game of chess / horseplay with lots of money changing hands between Gov & ILEC's (a good number of them). ???? on a separate note.. have you seen the dividend payout by CL and Frontier ? where do you think those $ are coming from ... :) Faisal Imtiaz Snappy Internet & Telecom 7266 SW 48 Street Miami, FL 33155 Tel: 305 663 5518 x 232 Help-desk: (305)663-5518 Option 2 or Email: [email protected] ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Chuck McCown" <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2016 9:39:31 AM > Subject: Re: [AFMUG] T-Tommy Wheeler staying corrupt to the very end > The USF is not and was not and never will be a public subsidy. It is > a replacement for money that was taken away from the ILECS. Some of > that money was originally the AT&T "line haul" settlements and forced > Ma Bell to give the little guys a piece of the long distance revenue > that originated or terminated on their system. USF also replaced long > distance revenue intrastate that was forced by the various state > regulatory bodies. > > So, everyone got super cheap long distance, lots of long distance > choices, but paid USF. Hardly a subsidy. > Moreover USF is a user FEE paid by the USERS of the PSTN. > It is not public money, it is not a tax. If you don't use the PSTN > you don't pay into the fund. > > What is more - public money - tax money - was never used to build the > PSTN as is frequently erroneously cited. > Yes, the REA, later named the RUS loaned public money to utilities, > but quickly became a profit center for the US Guvmnt. > Just the way some of you have SBA loans. > > What really made the telecommunications infrastructure great in the > county was the cold war. > The Guvmnt dumped bazillions of dollars into AT&T to attempt to create > a nuclear war proof long distance network. > But this was straight up defense contracting, not subsidy. Just a > company with the right product at the right time. > > I have been in this industry pre-divestiture. I watched the whole > thing evolve. > > And I watch the WISPs come from zero to the current state complaining > the whole time of the inherent advantages of the incumbent. > > Sour Grapes. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Faisal Imtiaz > Sent: Monday, December 19, 2016 5:16 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [AFMUG] T-Tommy Wheeler staying corrupt to the very end > >> But really, would Wal-Mart be happy about giving up some prime shelf >> space for some dollar store product? > > Well here is the Rub on this.... if you take Wal-Mart for example, on > one hand they have a very successful business model, and offer savings > and convenience, on the other hand they are also responsible > (contribution) for decimating small businesses and small mfg in this > country ( I am not say that they were the only factor). > > The question becomes, though which lens do you want to review Wal-Mart > from ? > > You cannot have it both ways... :) > > Besides, Wal-Mart did not build their stores with public subsides.. > (cough cough.... USF funds as an example ). > > >> It was like Obamacare, some elements looked good on paper. > > I have my own opinion on this... I don't understand why everyone keep > harping on Obamacare....without even batting any eye on the un-checked > greed that allows for the Cost of Healtcare to be set with no limits > in > > (It is a F***ing insurance policy to pay the Health Care tab....Call > it what ever care you want.. it will keep going up as long as the > Cost of Health care goes unchecked...... I challenge you to give it > some thought and then tell me Under the current health care system > (not taking about insurance)..who has the incentive for being > economically conscious and frugal for the sake of all parties > involved......NO Body !!! it is is everyone's personal benefit to > charge and collect as much as they can, no questions asked ! ! ....) > > > > > > > > Faisal Imtiaz > Snappy Internet & Telecom > 7266 SW 48 Street > Miami, FL 33155 > Tel: 305 663 5518 x 232 > > Help-desk: (305)663-5518 Option 2 or Email: [email protected] > > ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Chuck McCown" <[email protected]> >> To: [email protected] >> Sent: Monday, December 19, 2016 3:09:26 PM >> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] T-Tommy Wheeler staying corrupt to the very end > >> CLECs were never really able to make any decent money from the get go. >> By >> design in my opinion. >> But really, would Wal-Mart be happy about giving up some prime shelf >> space for some dollar store product? >> It was like Obamacare, some elements looked good on paper. >> > > --
