06/01/19 UNIVERSAL PHONE SERVICE IS A RIGHT, NOT A PRIVILEGE

UNIVERSAL PHONE SERVICE IS A RIGHT, NOT A PRIVILEGE

''The hidden tax in your phone bill'' (News: Analysis & Commentary, May 4) leaves the impression that consumers and long-distance carriers alike are being covertly taxed by local telecom carriers. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Long ago, the country decided that it wanted a state-of-the-art, national communication system, rejecting the view that rural areas should be excluded because of the high costs associated with serving them. If universal service were not a nationally accepted policy and if those Alaskans cited in the commentary had to pay the true cost of phone service, many Alaskans would not be linked to the communications highway.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was meant to reinforce this principle of universal service. For carriers serving low-density areas, such as some parts of Alaska, access fees are not a ''windfall,'' but a necessity to providing quality, affordable service.
It is high time the obstructionists to the complete and full implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 were relegated to the sidelines. Interestingly, those who cried loudest for the implementation of the 1996 act are now unwilling to accept its parameters, while those of us who were reluctantly forced to go along with its passage are now the ones trying the hardest to see it work the way lawmakers intended.

Michael E. Brunner
Chief Executive
National Telephone
Cooperative Assn.
Washington