COALITION TO KEEP AMERICA CONNECTED AND WASHINGTON UPDATE

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COALITION TO KEEP AMERICA CONNECTEDANDWASHINGT
ON UPDATE

• Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of
  Small Telecommunications Companies
• www.opastco.org
• Stuart Polikoff, Dir. of Govt Relations
• ITA 110TH ANNUAL CONVENTION
• November 6, 2006

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OVERVIEW

• Coalition to Keep America Connected
• Grassroots activities
• DC activities
• Telecom legislation timeline
• Rural Alliance and the Missoula Plan for
  Intercarrier Compensation Reform
• Joint Board Public Notice on using auctions to
  determine universal service support

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Coalition to Keep America Connected

• October 2005 Coalition formed by OPASTCO and
  three other rural trade associations
• PURPOSE To serve as a collective voice for
  rural consumers as Congress considers a rewrite
  of the Telecom Act
• MISSION STATEMENT Ensure that all consumers
  have access to affordable telecommunications and
  the latest technologies, no matter where they
  live

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Coalition to Keep America ConnectedGrassroots
Activities

• Keep Iowa Connected campaign is the template for
  the Coalitions grassroots activities
• Thousands of letters to legislators
• Table at State Fair
• Letters and articles in local papers
• Meetings with legislators
• Development of 30-second commercial
• Success is infectious Nebraska is following
  your lead

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Coalition to Keep America Connected Grassroots
Activities

• Keep the momentum going!
• Visit www.keepamericaconnected.org and get
  involved!
• Grassroots communications tool kit
• Subscriber testimonial
• Financial support

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Coalition to Keep America Connected DC
Activities

• Testifying on Capitol Hill
• 2/15 Congressional Rural Caucus on the value of
  USF
• 2/28 Senate Commerce Committee on USF
  contributions
• 3/2 Senate Commerce Committee on USF
  distributions
• 3/9 House Small Business Committee Democrats
  
  Roundtable on
  telecommunications policies
• 5/3 House Small Business Subcommittee on
  Regulatory Reform and Oversight on universal
  service reform
• 5/18 Senate Commerce Committee on S. 2686 the
  Senate telecom bill
• 6/13 Senate Commerce Committee on S. 2686 the
  Senate telecom bill

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Coalition to Keep America Connected DC
Activities

• Research Papers
• Ten Myths That Could Destroy Universal Service
  by Dr. Dale Lehman
• Universal Service Fund Defining Problems and
  Identifying Constructive Solutions by Balhoff
  Rowe
• Achieving Universal Service Work in Progress
  by Kathy Wallman

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Coalition to Keep America Connected DC
Activities

• Rapid Response to Anti-USF Media
• Newsweek
• Dallas Morning News
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch
• L.A. Times
• Chicago Tribune
• Forbes
• New York Times

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Coalition to Keep America Connected DC
Activities

• Advertising
• Roll Call
• The Hill
• Communications Daily

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Coalition to Keep America Connected DC
Activities

• DVD You Can Tell the USF Story
• Audience Employees, customers, local leaders
• Emphasis The importance of USF in promoting
  education, healthcare, and economic development
  and how the Fund is being threatened
• Call to action Asks viewers to contact their
  members of Congress
• Download at www.keepamericaconnected.org

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Coalition to Keep America Connected DC
Activities

• Recruitment of Non-Telecom Organizations
• Association of Educational Service Agencies, VA
• The Center for Rural Affairs, NE
• Mississippi Automobile Dealers Association, MS
• National Association of Developmental
  Organizations, DC
• National Cooperative Business Association, DC
• National Farmers Union, DC
• The National Grange, DC
• National Rural Education Advocacy Coalition, OK
• National Rural Electric Cooperative Association,
  VA
• National Rural Health Association, MO
• New Mexico Automobile Dealers Association, NM
• Oklahoma Automobile Dealers Association, OK
• Oregon Farm Bureau, OR
• South Dakota Automobile Dealers Association, SD

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Telecom Legislation Timeline

• Early June House telecom reform bill passes the
  House of Representatives
• Bill focuses primarily on video franchising, E911
• No USF language
• Late July Senate telecom reform bill passes the
  Senate Commerce Committee
• Senate bill more comprehensive than House bill
• Includes USF language
• Sen. Wyden (D, OR) places hold on bill, keeping
  it from reaching Senate floor
• Believes net neutrality language is inadequate

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Telecom Legislation Timeline

• Late September Congress recesses for election
  campaigning
• Mid November Senate returns for lame duck
  session
• Unlikely that telecom bill will be addressed
• Election results will dictate what happens in
  lame duck session and prospects for legislation
  next year

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Intercarrier Compensation Rural Alliance

• Open FCC proceeding on reforming intercarrier
  compensation rules
• Rural Alliance presents a unified voice for rural
  ILECs and their customers on intercarrier
  compensation reform
• OPASTCO is a member of the Alliance with an
  advisory seat on its Steering Committee
• Visit www.rural-alliance.org and get involved!

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Intercarrier Compensation Missoula Plan

• July 2006 Missoula Plan filed with FCC
• Supporters come from all sectors of the industry
• Rural Alliance a major player in the negotiations
• Key rural provisions of Plan
• Multi-Track approach
• Restructure Mechanism enables full recovery of
  lost intercarrier revenues
• Unifies rural RoR ILECs inter- and intrastate
  access charges at interstate cost-based rates
• Limits obligations of rural ILECs to pay for
  transport beyond their networks

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Intercarrier Compensation Missoula Plan

• October 25 Comments on Plan filed with FCC
• Rural Alliance filed joint comments with other
  Missoula Plan supporters
• Rural ILEC filing prepared by Rural Alliance had
  close to 600 signatories
• OPASTCO filed its own comments supporting Plan
• The Rural Alliances work is far from over

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Universal Service Joint Board Auctions
Public Notice

• August 11 Joint Board releases Public Notice
  seeking comment on reverse auctions for
  determining recipients of support and support
  amounts
• Public Notice part of larger proceeding to
  determine appropriate rural support mechanism to
  follow Rural Task Force Order
• October 10 Comments filed. Majority of
  commenters unsupportive of auctions and express
  concerns about unintended consequences

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Universal Service Joint Board Auctions
Public Notice

• OPASTCO comments
• The high-cost support mechanism for rural ILECs,
  based on embedded costs, has been highly
  successful
• Auctions pose significant risks to the continued
  availability of affordable, high-quality services
  to rural consumers
• Reforms intended to address the unnecessary
  growth in the rural High-Cost program should
  target the source of the problem Competitive
  ETCs and the identical support rule

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CONTACTS

• OPASTCO
• [phone]
• www.opastco.org
• John Rose, President
• jnr_at_opastco.org
• Stuart Polikoff, Director of Government Relations
• sep_at_opastco.org
• Randy Tyree, Director of Legislative and Industry
  Affairs
• rxt_at_opastco.org
• Steve Pastorkovich, Business Development Director
  /
• Senior Policy Analyst
• sfp_at_opastco.org
• Brian Ford, Policy Analyst
• bjf_at_opastco.org