Universal Service Hang Up

UNIVERSAL SERVICE HANG-UP
[SOURCE: Bangor Daily News, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] The Universal Service Fund, money collected by the federal government to subsidize rural telephone service, needs to be revised to reflect the increasing use of electronic communications. Capping payments to wireless carriers for a year while the Federal Communications Commission looks for solutions to a problem it has been unable to solve for more than a decade is not the answer. Instead, federal regulators -- with a push from Congress if necessary -- must bring USF collections and distributions in line with current communications uses and needs without slowing their growth in rural areas. Ensuring USF funds support needed work and looking for ways to include broadband in the fund makes sense. Doing this at the expense of better cell phone service in rural areas does not.
http://www.bangornews.com/news/t/viewpoints.aspx?articleid=150020&zoneid...