PRINCETON, N.J. , June 19---A provision in a Senate telecommunications bill could cost small and medium-sized companies, institutions and local governments hundreds of thousands of dollars in new federal taxes, warns a prominent telemessaging company.

The Senate may vote as early as this Thursday on S. 2686, The Communications, Consumers’ Choice and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006.

The bill contains a provision: Section 211, Stabilization of Universal Service Funding (USF), which will give the FCC an option to shift the USF subsidy from long distance charges to local phone numbers: traditional landline, cell phone and voice over IP.

But the measure will force each company to pay a tax as high as $3 per number per year, points out Gary A. Pudles, President and Chief Executive Officer, The AnswerNet Network, North America ’s largest telemessaging service. Most small/midsized firms, institutions and governments spend more money on local phone service than on long distance.

For telemessaging firms, which answer calls for clients like contractors, doctors and lawyers; and for large employers, colleges, healthcare systems and government offices that have many phone lines, those taxes will add up quickly, warns Pudles.

AnswerNet, with 55 locations nationwide, is facing tens of thousands of dollars a year in additional expenses, explains Pudles. Telemessaging firms like AnswerNet reserve hundreds of phone numbers to provide to clients so that they can do so immediately; yet they only use these numbers when clients sign up. Under Section 211 AnswerNet and other companies will be paying for numbers regardless whether they are used or not.

“It is not right to shift the USF subsidy burden onto companies like ours, which are facing stiff offshore competition, and onto small businesses and onto local governments, colleges and hospitals that are struggling to control costs, “ says Pudles. “A more equitable way to pay for the USF must be considered.”

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