Today I had a farmer in rural Illinois call me. He is building a new 110 grain leg and was inquiring on what it would take to do wireless Internet from it. He says he has DSL now from a rural telephone coop but they wont sell him wireless service from one of their towers ½ mile away because he has DSL. This farmer would like to get rid of his phone line and all of the expense and taxes with it. Obviously, the rural telco does not want to give up their USF subsidies by converting this customer over to wireless. I was able to locate a WISPA member within 40 miles of his farm and introduced the two. I hope it works out for both the farmer and the WISPA member.
The reason I bring this up is that it is evidence that USF subsidies are outdated and burdensome to Broadband competition and deployment. The loss of income from federal USF subsidies, far outweigh the cost savings to the customer. It is no wonder that people want to ditch their phone lines so badly. With the federal government subsidizing this ancient copper telco infrastructure at an estimated average of $17,000 per line per year, common sense would tell every taxpayer in the US that the time for USF reform is now. Is it time to make some noise about this unfairness in the market place? I think so! Respectfully, Rick Harnish Executive Director WISPA 260-307-4000 cell 866-317-2851 WISPA Office Skype: rick.harnish. [email protected]
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