Halt the Billions in Cross-Subsidies to Wireless: Solve the Digital Divide

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Halt the Billions in Cross-Subsidies to Wireless: Solve the Digital Divide with Fiber Optics, Competition and Lower Prices.

CLICK TO WATCH NEW VIDEO: Aunt Ethel Explains the Telco Accounting Scandal that Caused the Digital Divide and this Mess.

We need your help now, please.

IRREGULATORS v FCC, our legal challenge of the FCC’s financial accounting rules, was decided in March, 2020. The Court made it clear that the states are independent of the FCC and they can go after the cross-subsidies and overcharging.

The pandemic has exposed that America’s telecom networks—mostly controlled by AT&T, Verizon and CenturyLink, are Digital Wastelands, leaving out tens of millions of homes in rural areas and even inner cities. Worse, there is no serious competition and prices are 5-20 times more than overseas. And with everyone at home, every city and state in America is looking for solutions to fund broadband and fix this Digital Divide,

But, most plans are now calling for a wireless substitute; no one else is calling for halting the wireless subsidiaries or knows that billions of dollars have been overcharged per state, or revealing that every state still has public telecom utilities.

We have started in multiple states to do the necessary preliminary work as well as start a series of actions at our own expense.

  • Success in New York City. Verizon NY will be adding 1/2 million fiber- to the home-lines, focusing on low income areas; Not a 5G Substitute. On Sept., 24th, 2020, we wrote a letter to Mayor de Blasio to not renew Verizon’s NYC FiOS cable franchise until Verizon agreed to finish all households, including low income areas. Verizon committed to covering 100% of the City by 2014; 25% or more is not done. On Nov., 24, 2020, 2 months later, the Mayor announced an agreement. Coincidence or not, it is a direct hit to the IRREGULATORS’ plans, laid out in the Letter.
  • A second Letter was also sent and it calls for the City to help start audits of Verizon NY, the state public utility, for over $1 billion annually in overcharging.
  • IRREGULATORS filed Comments with the NY Public Service Commission in June, 2020 pertaining to the cross-subsidies and asking for audits. The next action will require a formal legal challenge. Verizon has also been redacting information and we requested the practice be stopped immediately
  • In California there are multiple Digital Divide plans that have been proposed by others; On Nov. 20th, 2020 we filed with the CA Broadband Council and the CA Public Utility Commission, We believe there has been massive overcharging of the wired networks by AT&T CA, like Verizon NY, costing consumers as much as $2.4 billion annually, and this is caused by the wired networks subsidizing the wireless networks. We asked for a halt to these subsidies among other investigations.
  • A ‘Clean Sweep’ Agenda for the FCC and America. America has a new president, and the FCC will change hands to a new Democrat FCC. Will they drain the current Republican toxic dump and fix what’s broken? Will they stop AT&T, Verizon & the cablcos’ take over of the FCC again?  Our Clean Sweep Agenda requests that all those on the transition team, or the Chairman, Commissioners and Committees—should not have financial or direct ties to these companies. From the removal of made up fees, to the FCC finally initiating investigations into the cross-subsidies we uncovered, to fix the mess requires an unbiased FCC taking on the hard issues.
  • Other Actions: The IRREGULATORS are now working with legislators on model legislation in NY, we are examining Verizon’s rural areas in PA; and about to call for audits in CenturyLink Colorado, among other XXXXX (redacted) projects.

GOAL: Our research indicates that ALL states appear to be using the same corrupted FCC financial accounting formulas, causing billions per state to be overcharged. Our next steps, after years of work, is to continue and go after the money, exposing that wireless is unprofitable, and that billions of dollars are at stake — state atter state– reclaiming the uilities and fixing this mess is our imperative.

Please Help: We have been operating on a very tight financial budget and we are now virtually out of funding. We will not be able to continue this critical investigative work without your financial assistance.

I hope you will consider making an immediate donation to support our work.

Who Are the IRREGULATORS?

Thank You,

Bruce Kushnick Managing Director, bruce@newnetworks.com