Report: Minnesota Carriers Pull Back Investments Due to USF Reform

摘要

Reduced USF support for small, rural carriers in Minnesota, as a result of the FCC’s USFnoverhaul, would mean higher rates for consumers, more difficulties for providers to obtainnloans and the potential for providers to go out of business, said a report by the MinnesotanTelecom Alliance. It cited Paul Bunyan Communications in the state, which had announcednplans to lay 500 miles of fiber to expand services to 2,600 potential customers in underservednareas. Now the company plans to lay only 100 miles that would reach fewer than 400npotential customers and might not plan any additional expansion in 2012, the report said.