There’s nothing appealing about cell towers. Plain superstructures of steel and metal, they are like antiseptic Eiffel Towers, but without aesthetic qualities. When placed in bucolic country settings, these towers just cannot blend.

And Maine needs many, many more of them.

Today, the Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to decide whether to cap an important subsidy – the Universal Service Fund – which supports expansion of telecommunications equipment into rural areas, where construction costs are much higher.

Two such towers were “christened” by U.S. Cellular this week, in Canton and Peru. Both were supported by the Universal Service Fund, and feted by emergency officials as key developments for improving the quality of wireless communications in Western Maine.

The FCC’s cap would limit growth of the USF; with the proliferation of cellular phone technology, the fund has swollen with the collected surcharges from interstate wireless providers. The impact was predictable: as more people used cellular phones, more money became available to expand service.

A cap, some say, would limit a “runaway subsidy” for wireless companies. There’s also sentiment among traditional telecommunications companies – those that use wires – that the fund provides an unfair competitive advantage for wireless competitors.

If that is the crux of complaints about the Universal Service Fund, that makes it an issue of competition for trade regulators, not communications regulators. The FCC shouldn’t act on the Universal Service Fund as a way to referee a trade dispute within the telecommunications industry.

It has a loftier calling – weighing whether the fund is accomplishing its stated goals, one of which is expanding wireless services into rural states. Half of the cellular towers in Maine constructed by U.S. Cellular during 2006 were aided by USF funds, according to advocates, including one in Rumford.

And, if capped, Maine could lose five additional planned towers and more than $2 million in funds.

Maine is already embroiled in debate over the future of its telephone infrastructure; the controversial Verizon-FairPoint merger, whether approved or disapproved, will change the calling landscape immensely.

But stalling expansion of wireless service across Maine could be more earthshaking. The demand for cellular service exists, both among consumers and especially emergency responders, who are growing dependent on cell technology to do their jobs. Capping the USF is a bad idea for Maine, and likely other rural states facing these same issues.

The FCC should decide against it.