Copyright 2000 The Omaha World-Herald Company
Omaha
World-Herald
June 5, 2000, Monday SUNRISE EDITION
SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 6;
LENGTH: 386 words
HEADLINE:
Wringing Out Phone Bills
BYLINE: 6
BODY:
Nebraskans reading the
news of late may conclude that their phone bills are automatically headed
downward. But that isn't necessarily the case. True, Congress seems on course to
eliminate a telephone tax that was established to finance the
Spanish-American War. And the Federal Communications Commission just announced
changes that could reduce long-distance charges for some users. But those rate
reductions will vary among phone users, and many will see no reduction at all,
due to their pattern of phone use. Moreover, in Nebraska and other states with
sizable rural areas, rate reductions will be largely counterbalanced by
subsidies that consumers provide to ensure that phone service remains affordable
outside urban areas. This is a fundamental public interest. If left entirely to
the whims of the market, phone rates would soar in places like Keya Paha County
in northern Nebraska, or Dundy County in the state's southwestern corner,
because phone companies face higher costs in serving such lightly populated
areas. For decades, the federal government promoted universal phone access by
allowing local phone companies to charge "access fees" to long-distance
companies for using local phone lines. But a 1996 federal law, which sensibly
reduced regulation in favor of the free market, is eliminating the access fees.
An alternative revenue source is needed, since the obligation to provide
universal access isn't going away. (Initiative 414, the confusing ballot measure
shot down by Nebraska voters on a 58-42 percent vote in 1998, would have also
eliminated the access fees, among other changes.) In Nebraska, the answer so far
has been a monthly surcharge of nearly 7 percent placed on local phone service,
begun last July. At the same time, costs are generally being shifted away from
in-state long-distance service and toward local service. The Nebraska Public
Service Commission may well adjust those arrangements in the future, given the
flux in the phone industry and a request from U S West that the commission
change the way long-distance service is regulated in the Omaha area. Even in an
era of cell phones and Internet-aided phone service, the long-standing need for
universal phone access continues. Nebraska's efforts to come up with an
equitable system should continue also.
LANGUAGE:
ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: June 6, 2000
