Verizon Must Eliminate High-Cost Service

WASHINGTON (CN) - Verizon Wireless will not receive support from the Federal Communications Commission to provide service to high-cost customers after 2012, the agency announced.

The FCC also clarified that Verizon will receive high-cost support in 2011 in accordance with commitments it made to the agency in 2008 to phase out support when a merger with Sprint seemed imminent.

The decision means Verizon will receive between $70 and $90 million dollars from the Universal Service Administrative Company.

Verizon had asked the agency to reconsider termination of the support to which it had agreed in exchange for approval of the expected merger, in favor of a general phase out of such support under the agency's Universal Service Fund-Inter-Carrier Compensation Transformation Order.

The order proscribes a 5 year phase out for high-cost support. Under the order, Verizon would have received around $144 million in 2011 and approximately $360 million from 2012-2016.

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