Access fees keep phone bills down

Access reform for telephone companies is a complex issue. The March 24 guest editorial "Phoning in reform" from the Joplin Globe ignores a crucial truth. Access charges reflect a recognized cost of doing business, compensating local companies for the use of their facilities. That revenue helps keep monthly phone bills affordable and help to build and to maintain the advanced networks that benefit everyone.

BPS Telephone Co. is a small telephone company serving Bernie, Parma and Steele, Mo. We have invested millions of dollars to upgrade our infrastructure and networks to ensure that our customers have the same affordable access to state-of-the-art technology as those living in Cape Girardeau and other urban areas. This includes making available high-speed Internet, which is a priority for our state and nation, to 100 percent of our customers.

BPS and the other Missouri small telephone companies provide service in areas of our state that the larger companies would not serve. Networks in rural Missouri are costly because there are fewer customers living farther apart.

AT&T and other long-distance and cellular companies depend on small companies' networks to complete calls. Access charges are fees paid by one company to another for originating and terminating long-distance calls on a local company's network. For example, if a Cape Girardeau business calls a customer in Bernie, AT&T pays access charges to BPS for using its network to complete the call.

In Missouri, intrastate access charges are set by the Public Service Commission. The PSC has recognized that access charges are appropriate for recovering from long-distance companies a portion of the cost of the local company's network. In so doing, the PSC has avoided shifting large increases to customer's monthly phone bills.

Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission has set access rates for calls from one state to another state at artificially low levels. The FCC decided to charge local telephone company customers for a large portion of the cost of the telephone companies' networks. Every month customers pay a "federal subscriber line charge" on their bills.

That charge is currently about $6.50 every month. In addition, the FCC has established a Federal Universal Service Fund charge that also appears on customers' monthly phone bills. Monies from these charges help to subsidize low interstate access rates. When larger companies complain about Missouri's access rates, they forget to tell you these facts.

The PSC chose not to create such a subsidy, which is why Missouri's access rates seem high in comparison to interstate rates. It is important to remember, however, that Missouri's end-user rates are among the lowest in the nation.

If access charges are reduced, two things are certain to happen. First, customers' monthly bills will increase dramatically. In some cases, it could be more than 200 percent. Secondly, our investment in infrastructure will have to be significantly curtailed.

On the other hand, simply reducing the access costs of the larger carriers does not necessarily translate into lower rates for long-distance service or increased investment in infrastructure. In fact, none of the "access reform" bills pending in the Missouri Legislature mention, let alone require, the access savings be passed along to customers in the form of lower rates or increased investments in Missouri networks. These savings just as easily could be used to increase shareholder profits or dividends by the larger companies.

Those concerned about the economic future of Missouri should carefully examine all sides of this issue. They may discover that the larger companies simply want to increase profit.

Lisa Winberry is the general manager of BPS Telephone Co. in Bernie, Mo.