Subsidized Rural Telephony and the Public Interest: A Case Study In Cooperative Federalism and its Pitfalls

I. DEVOLUTION OVER DEREGULATION, RETRENCHMENT OVER REFORM .....................................................................................308 II. THE RURAL AND HIGH-COST COMPONENT .............................318 A. Core Statutory Provisions and Other Sources of Law ..........318 B. "Local Usage" and Service Area Definition ...........................323 C. Service Quality Plans, "Wireline Equivalence," and Carrier of Last Resort Obligations.................................325 D. Advertising.............................................................................328 III. DETERMINING THE PUBLIC INTEREST........................................330 A. Competitive Neutrality and Consumer Choice.....................333 1. Neutrality as Between Service Providers.................333 2. Technological Neutrality........................................338 B. Rural-Urban Parity.................................................................342 C. The Financial Impact of ETC Designations.........................347 1. An Impermissible Factor .........................................347 2. The True Relevance of the Financial Factor ............352 3. Proposed Solutions..................................................357 IV. PREEMPTING STATE REGULATION OF WIRELESS TELEPHONY...............................................................................362 V. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................369