The FCC should shuck the cost-based model of the Universal...
The FCC should shuck the cost-based model of the Universal Service Fund and adopt “a value-based approach” as it transitions USF to a national broadband fund, the Technology Policy Institute argued in a white paper released Friday. Senior Fellow Scott…
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Wallsten said the current high-cost fund “does not incorporate how much consumers value the services” and doesn’t measure “the incremental, rather than average, effects of the program.” The new broadband fund, dubbed the Connect America Fund, “can overcome both problems and operate far more efficiently than the existing high-cost program ever could,” Wallsten argued. Moving to a value-based approach would require “regular studies” on what customers will pay for broadband services, he said. “This information would be used to help determine what types of service should be subsidized in unserved areas, which areas to fund, and the maximum amount that should be spent on subsidies."