Senate Majority Cites USF Funding, Urges FCC to Weigh Steps to Spur Rural Broadband
Citing USF funding issues, 56 senators urged the FCC to "consider any changes" needed to ensure affordable broadband is made available in high-cost rural areas. "We are still hearing frustration about the prices for and the availability of standalone broadband,"…
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said a letter Tuesday to commissioners, spearheaded by Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. Millions of rural Americans still don't have affordable stand-alone broadband "due to insufficient USF support," despite 2016 FCC changes, they wrote. "[T]he limited USF budget also reduced the amount of funding available to carriers electing new 'model-based' USF support, resulting in tens of thousands of rural consumers receiving slower broadband speeds than intended by the model or not gaining access to broadband at all. We are concerned that the lack of sufficient resources in the reformed High-Cost mechanism may be undermining the desired effect of the reforms and falling short of the statutory mandate that reasonably comparable services at reasonably comparable rates be available to rural and urban Americans alike." NTCA commended the senators, in a release. “We are deeply grateful to Senators Fischer and Klobuchar, and the many other members of the Senate representing more than half of the chamber, for their leadership in encouraging the FCC to ensure this program continues to be an effective linchpin of our country’s efforts to deploy and sustain advanced, affordable communications in rural communities,” NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield said. “This letter demonstrates a consistent and enduring commitment on the part of Congress to make sure that ongoing reforms to the USF are done right.”