Colorado regulators cap controversial phone subsidy
<The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has capped a two-decade-old fund that’s still paying tens of millions annually to land-line phone companies for providing service in rural areas.
Starting this year, the Colorado High Cost Support Mechanism will top off at $54 million, or $13.5 million per quarter. The high-cost mechanism is funded by a monthly surcharge of about $1 on land-line and cellphone bills. Colorado ratepayers contributed $56 million to the fund in 2011 and were expected to pay $65 million this year, according to the program’s 2011 report.
The Federal Communications Commission is shifting a similar program, called the Universal Service Fund, toward broadband expansion.
The three-member PUC commission cited Read more…