LDDS WorldCom believes that the levels of universal service support should be derived from the cost of providing service, not from the LECs' current prices. LDDS WorldCom generally supports the joint Benchmark Costing Model approach advocated by MCI, Sprint, and others for rural and high-cost areas. One means of recovering the subsidy would be for the Commission to increase the Subscriber Line Charge to cover the universal service costs. Commission's tentative position that CCL charges and LTS charges must be eliminated or significantly revised is a welcome first step. FCC should completely eliminate the blatantly discriminatory linkage between interstate access charge rates, which are now paid by a select few telecommunications service providers, and the universal service obligations that must be paid by all telecommunications service providers.
Transitional alternatives are available as well.
LDDS WorldCom supports adoption of the basic list of universal services proposed by the Commission. So long as there are multiple providers of service in the local markets, there is no need for the FCC to oversee service quality through technical standard setting or reporting requirements.