Draft universal service reform legislation announced Friday would cover broadband, expand the contribution base and cap high-cost support, said House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher D-Va., and Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb. This is the third round of legislation the two lawmakers have worked on, and comes after months of negotiations among industry and regional regulators. “The Universal Service Fund is broken,” said Boucher and Terry. Consumers will pay more than 14 percent of long-distance revenue into the fund next year, up from 12 percent in 2009, they said. A hearing on the draft is planned for Nov. 17.
Federal Universal Service Fund
The FCC's Universal Service Fund (USF) was created by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to fund programs designed to provide universal telecommunications access to all U.S. citizens. All telecommunications providers are required to contribute a percentage of their end-user revenues to the Fund, which the FCC allocates for four core programs: 1. Connect America Fund, which subsidizes telecom providers for the increased costs of offering services to customers in rural and remote areas 2. Lifeline, which directly subsidizes low-income households to help pay for the cost of phone and internet service 3. Rural Health Care, which subsidizes health care providers to offer broadband telehealth services that can connect rural patients and providers with specialists located farther away 4. E-Rate, which subsidizes rural and low-income schools and libraries for internet and telecommunications costs The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) administers the USF on behalf of the FCC, but requires Congressional approval for its actions. Many states also operate their own universal service funds, which operate independently from the federal program.
The FCC laid the groundwork for an investigation into special access, issuing a public notice late Thursday “on an appropriate analytical framework” for reviewing issues raised in the commission’s long-pending proceeding. Chairman Julius Genachowski announced the notice last month in a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii (CD Oct 9 p1). Meanwhile, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and others renewed their attack on special access charges in comments at the commission as part of its broadband investigation. Comments were due Wednesday on National Broadband Plan Public Notice No. 11, on the impact of middle- mile access on broadband availability and deployment.
Northrop Grumman supports a petition from Stratos Government Services asking for clarification on universal service fund (USF) contribution exemptions, Northrop said in comments Friday. The company said a clarification on whether government telecommunications subcontractors are subject to USF contributions is important as it expects to bid on commercial satellite communications services contracts as a systems integrator. Failure to clarify the rules will distort the federal marketplace for satellite communications services and lead to higher costs for taxpayers, the company said.
There will be changes in the guidelines governing the broadband stimulus program, said NTIA Chief of Staff Thomas Power at an Federal Communications Bar Association seminar late Thursday. Other speakers urged more clarity and regulatory certainty.
CHICAGO - Network neutrality rules could slow or “halt” progress toward a fully connected world, Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg said in a keynote speech Wednesday at Supercomm. “While this future is imminent, it is not inevitable, and the decisions we make today - as an industry and as a country - will determine whether the benefits of these transformational networks will be felt sooner or much, much later.”
ORLANDO, Fla. -- The FCC plans to seek more information on the Universal Service Fund (USF) as part of its development of a national broadband plan, said Jennifer McKee, acting chief of the FCC Wireline Bureau’s telecommunication access policy division. On a panel Tuesday at the CompTel show, she said she expects an FCC public notice on how USF fits into the plan to surface in “the next couple of weeks.”
Work on comprehensive emergency communications legislation will come next year when the FCC finishes its broadband plan and perhaps takes up revamping the Universal Service Fund, House aides said at an E-911 Institute meeting Thursday. The need for a nationwide strategy and funding for next-generation E-911 services could be taken up in a USF bill or some other broadband-related vehicle, aides said. Some of this year’s broadband stimulus awards could go to public-safety projects, as called for in the Recovery Act, but much more money will be needed to fulfill longstanding plans for a nationwide interoperable network, people at the conference said.
All federal universal service support payments must be made by electronics funds transfer, the FCC said Friday. USF recipients should provide their financial information on FCC Form 498. The requirement will become effective this fall when the FCC releases a revised form, it said. “Eliminating the mailing of paper checks will minimize the possibility that payments are lost in transit or delivered to the wrong addresses, and reduce the chance that payments are misappropriated,” the FCC said.
Interconnected VoIP providers should be required to pay state universal service fees, said states and rural wireline carriers in comments filed at the FCC Wednesday on a petition by the Nebraska Public Service Commission and Kansas Corporation Commission (CD Sept 4 p6). But Verizon and Google fought the concept of VoIP having an intrastate component subject to state jurisdiction. Vonage and some other VoIP providers didn’t object to paying state USF, but said the FCC must open a separate rulemaking first.
NTIA and RUS unveiled a new searchable database late Wednesday that provides public information on broadband grant applications. The database is intended to provide “a useful tool for the public that will provide transparency” while highlighting the benefits of projects, applicants were told in a recent e-mail. The database is searchable by organization, keywords, project type, program and state. Search results additionally list applicant contact information, project title, grant money requested and a project description. Those who want to protect proprietary information have until Monday to provide a redacted copy of their executive summary.