Rural Carriers: Operating Expense Support From Universal Service Necessary
The carriers say their legacy USF support has dwindled as the FCC phased out legacy programs in favor of competitive auctions.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 5, 2025 – Rural wireless carriers reiterated their call last week for the Federal Communications Commission to subsidize their operational costs through its Universal Service Fund. They also took their concerns to Congress on Wednesday.
“As the wireless industry has matured and roaming revenue has decreased as part of the business plan to serve rural areas, support for operational expenses through USF is critically needed,” the Competitive Carriers Association wrote in a Wednesday letter to the House Committee on Small Business.
The carriers say their legacy USF support has dwindled as the FCC phased out legacy programs in favor of competitive auctions and is no longer sufficient to prevent them from losing money providing essential connectivity in rural areas.
Some also participated in the agency’s Mobility Fund Phase I, which provided one-time support for wireless builds. A second phase aimed at more ongoing support never got off the ground.
They also say roaming revenues have decreased and competition from larger carriers in the more profitable parts of their footprint have increased, leaving some towers built with USF money in the red.
The FCC finalized rules last year for another auction, the 5G Fund for Rural America, which would make another $9 billion available for new mobile infrastructure in rural areas and start the process of phasing out the legacy high-cost support entirely. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a commissioner at the time, dissented from the rules, arguing the agency should have waited for the results of the Commerce Department’s broadband expansion program before funding more infrastructure.
Carolina West and Appalachian Wireless have asked for more
Two carriers, Carolina West Wireless and Appalachian Wireless, have gone to the FCC and asked for additional USF support to cover more of their opex costs. Carolina West has to renew tower leases this year and next, and is seeking an answer from the FCC before it has to sign the paperwork.
“Put simply, it is difficult to justify committing to another lease term for a tower that loses money every month,” the company wrote in an Aug. 25 filing with the FCC.
Carolina West had asked for enough money to break even at its money-losing sites for five years – the exact amount was redacted in the public version of the petition. Appalachian Wireless’s entire petition was confidential and not reviewable.
CCA and the Rural Wireless Association, another trade group representing rural carriers, have supported the petitions and said the problems are widespread among their members. Both have they expect more of their members to seek extra cash if the agency doesn’t move to provide more widespread funding for wireless opex.
A group of nine rural mobile providers calling themselves the Coalition of Rural Wireless Carriers also supported Carolina West’s petition on Aug. 25.
Each of them “attest that legacy High-Cost support, which has been reduced by 40% and which will be eliminated following the 5G auction, is insufficient to enable the delivery of high-quality mobile voice and broadband throughout their respective service areas,” the group wrote.
CRWC members include: Bluesky Communications, C Spire, Docomo Pacific, Appalachian Wireless, Viaero Wireless, Nex-Tech Wireless, CellularOne, Union Wireless, and United Wireless Communications.
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