First, we include proposed actions that can be made by the FCC, which are critical in order to improve the current program operations. The Commission should take steps to notify all approved applications and start the discounts immediately. Current applications now before USAC have been pending for many months. Approvals for these applications have been held up for months for reasons that are not clear. This delay has caused undue hardships on the rural health providers, who are operating on very narrow financial margins already.
Continued delay is unconscionable.
The application process as it exists today is burdensome, complicated, causes substantial hardship on applicants, and creates a barrier on getting the program benefits out to the intended beneficiaries. The process should be streamlined in two ways. The Commission should reconsider the requirement that all applications are required to enter into a 28-day posting period, at least for areas where there is no existing competition for local service. To date, there have been no competing bids proposed for any application, nor are any competing bids anticipated. The applications are typically for services to very remote locations where no alternative service providers are available.