FCC Slates $211 Million to Restore Services

The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday that it would allocate $211 million to restore communications services to Hurricane Katrina victims, including providing mobile handsets and 300-minute calling cards.

The announcement came at a meeting in Atlanta, where commissioners also heard Gulf Coast broadcasters recount how they fought to keep operating as Katrina knocked out electricity and communications towers.

FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin ordered the monthly meeting moved from Washington to BellSouth Corp.’s emergency control center so commissioners could hear firsthand about communications problems plaguing the hurricane recovery.

Officials estimate that 350,000 people are still without phone service.

Martin, who toured the Gulf Coast last week, vowed that the agency would work to restore communications and do a better job in the next disaster.

“We need to learn what worked, what did not and what the commission should do now to make our communications networks more robust in the future,” Martin said.

For the $211 million, the FCC plans to tap the $2.25-billion-a-year Universal Service Fund financed by user fees on long-distance telephone calls.

The money normally funds phone service in rural and inner-city areas and is used to establish telecommunication services for schools and libraries.

But some experts cautioned about using the fund, noting that it has been plagued by fraud and mismanagement allegations since it began operation in 1997.

“They have done some reforms to clean up the Universal Service Fund, but it’s a long way from having adequate safeguards,” said Bob Williams, project director at the Center for Public Integrity. The Washington-based group investigated the fund two years ago and found that schools were being overcharged by as much as 300% to lease equipment.

But Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), whose state is a major recipient of money from the fund, praised the FCC for using it to aid recovery efforts.

Several communications executives at the meeting lauded the agency’s quick response. And New Orleans radio broadcaster Diane Newman gave a tearful account of how her station, WWL-AM, stayed on the air.

Dick Lewis, regional vice president in Louisiana and Mississippi for Clear Channel Communications Inc., thanked the commission for helping get security protection for its transmitters and fuel to run generators powering its radio stations.