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Sandwich Isles Communications Inc. won a partial victory from the Federal Communications Commission in its fight to have consumers help pay for an undersea fiber-optic cable connecting Oahu to the Neighbor Islands.
The Honolulu-based telecommunications company appealed to the FCC after another federal agency rejected Sandwich Isle’s request to draw $15 million a year from a special fund to pay for the lease on the 358-mile cable network. The National Exchange Carrier Association, which administers the fund paid for by consumers around the country, rejected Sandwich Isle’s initial request, saying the lease payments to Paniolo Cable Co. did not meet NECA’s standard as a “used and useful” cost.
In a ruling last week the FCC said Sandwich Isles was entitled to tap the fund to pay for half of the lease cost. The FCC staff said that while using the fund to pay the entire cost of the lease was not appropriate, it disagreed with NECA’s decision to block Sandwich Isles from using the fund at all.
A spokeswoman for Sandwich Isles did not return calls seeking comment.
