State of NTCA: Time to stand up and fight

MIAMI—The national telecommunications co-ops are facing not only some major technological changes but also must realize that the way they’ve done business in the past is about to evolve, said Michael Brunner, CEO of the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association.

Speaking at the opening of the association’s national show this week, Brunner said some of his biggest concerns stem from the development of new technologies and how the FCC plans to treat them. Voice over IP, in particular, if treated as an information service has a potentially significant damaging effect on the rural telcos that make up the bulk of NTCA.

"People are nervous about investing in rural telecom, and rightly so," he told the 3000 attendees. "We need a dose of reality."

FCC Chairman Michael Powell, who has indicated he is in favor of not treating VoIP providers the same as traditional telecom operators, needs to think through the impact on rural telcos and the special circumstances they face, Brunner said. Perhaps most concerning is the potential for VoIP providers to get out of paying traditional access fees to local carriers for call completion. Those charges often make up a significant part of rural telcos’ revenue base.

"Even if access charges as we know them go away, there must be a system in which all network users share the burden of paying for the network," Brunner said.