January 29, 2016 Greenville Journal

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GREENVILLEJOURNAL

Cellphone bills expected to rise

GREENVILLEJOURNAL.COM • Friday, January 29, 2016 • Vol.18, No.5

BENJAMIN JEFFERS | STAFF

bjeffers@communityjournals.com

Target

ZERO Last year, Greenville County Animal Care euthanized more than 6,000 animals. Can they bring that number close to zero by 2019? - p. 8

APRIL A. MORRIS / STAFF

Paula Church, community relations coordinator for Greenville County Animal Care, poses with Scooter.

Cellphone bills for South Carolinians are expected to rise about 1 percent after a ruling by the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC) determined that wireless companies are in competition with landline companies. Landline companies have argued that wireless companies should pay into the state Universal Service Fund (USF), which helps cover the high costs that landline companies incur to provide service to rural areas, because the wireless companies take advantage of the landline companies’ network. Cellphone users already pay into the federal USF but don’t pay into the state’s version. Landline customers have paid into the state USF for years, and now pay 2.65 percent of their bill into the fund, said Dukes Scott, executive director of the Ted Cruz Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS). If the PSC issues the order as expected, both landline customers and cellphone customers will pay about 0.8-0.9 percent of their bill for the USF, Scott said. The state has about 1 million landline connections compared to more than 4 million wireless connections, according to ORS data. Legislation filed last year to change the way the state USF is funded passed the state Senate but stalled in the House. Wireless companies told legislators the landline companies had shown no financial proof “they actually need the money” and were simply trying “to collect $40 million from consumers every year in perpetuity.” Unlike the PSC’s order, the proposed legislation would cap the amount available in the USF. Currently, the USF can have up to $270 million, although landline companies only actually use about $29 million of that, Scott said. FOR HOME DELIVERY CALL 864.679.1200 READ ONLINE AT GREENVILLE JOURNAL.COM

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