A new “Keep Universal Service Fair Coalition” has been formed to make sure the FCC does not alter the way Universal Service Fund (USF) fees are collected. The Coalition, whose members include leading consumer, senior, disability and minority advocacy groups, believe that the current USF funding mechanism is equitable because it is based on customer usage (minutes used of long distance). The Coalition argues that any proposals to change the USF funding process to a connections-based system would be regressive and disproportionately hit low-income, residential and low- volume long distance users.
The Keep USF Fair Coalition noted that if a flat monthly connection charge is adopted, residential customers would pay the same as business customers and low-volume callers would pay the same as high-volume callers. The Coalition is asking the FCC to reject flat USF fees due to the detrimental impact it would have on low-volume users. http://www.keepusffair.org/
- Every year, the nation’s universal service fund (USF) pays out approximately $673 million for low-income programs and about $3.0 billion to support high-cost rural services. There are additional programs to provide Internet access to schools and libraries, as well as to support rural health initiatives. The USF is paid for by taxes to interstate switched access minutes, which are now in rapid decline. Speaking at the VON conference last month, Robert Pepper, Chief of Policy Development at the FCC, said the old USF model is clearly not sustainable — however, by his measure, VoIP is not principally to blame. Wireless substitution is having the largest effect.