Texas telephone companies team up in lawsuit against Public Utilities Commission
More than 50 Texas telephone companies and co-ops have sued the state’s Public Utilities Commission for reductions it made in payments from a fund meant to guarantee phone service to rural residents.
The lawsuit alleges the Texas Universal Service Fund shrank as a result of PUC inaction, leading to a 70 percent cut in payments to phone service providers.
Since 1987, the fund has subsidized carriers to offset high costs of providing phone service to rural areas that account for 55 percent of Texas’ land mass, an area larger than Montana. Currently, the fund doesn’t subsidize broadband service.
The legal dust-up is more than a spat over a fund based on 34-year-old legislation. It’s part of a protracted battle between landline and wireless telephone companies, a sign of how technology is changing how people communicate and how laws struggle to keep up.
Read more: https://www.mysanantonio.com/sa-inc/article/Texas-telephone-companies-team-up-in-lawsuit-15979359.php
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