An Outline for Organizing Universal Service Proposals

by
Marlin Blizinsky

Prepared for Universal Service in Context: A Multidisciplinary Perspective, New York Law School, December 6, 1995

Should The Goal of Universal Service Be Retained?

• Social benefits.
• Political benefits.
• Economic benefits.
• Who is to benefit: individual recipients, society, network owners, or service providers? Are Other Rationales Valid Today?
  
  • New technologies.
  • New market conditions.
  • Technical convergence.
  • Regulatory convergence.

    Implementation Decisions

    What Service Or Services Should Be Subsidized?
    Recipients as information consumers vs. recipients as both producers and consumers.
    • Telephone.
    • Email.
    • One-way video.
    • Two-way high-bandwidth data.
    • Other. Where Should These Service(s) Be Made Available?
      
      • Homes.
      • Community.
      • Community centers, libraries, and so on. How Should These Services Be Funded?
        
        • By company type (cable vs. telephone) or by services offered (for example, all two-way video providers)?
        • By service providers or network owners?
        • Should long-distance telephone companies pay?
        • Should competitive access providers (CAPs) pay?
        • Other. How Should Service Be Provided?
          
          • Through network owners.
          • Through service providers.
          • Through a market-based approach. Who Should Receive the Universal Service Subsidy and Who Should Not?
            Is it the same to subsidize a low-income city resident as it is to subsidize a farmer in rural Wyoming? A vacation cottage in Aspen?

            Government's Role

            What Level of Government Is Best Able to Make These Policy and Implementation Decisions?
            
            • Federal government.
            • State government.
            • Local government. What Group Is Best Able to Implement a Universal Service Policy?
              
              • Federal government.
              • State government.
              • Local government.
              • Nonprofit.
              • Private, for-profit. Who, If Anyone, Does Government Represent in This Decision?
                Do governments, as institutions, have interests that are separate from, and at times even contradictory to, those of the public at large? Those of individuals without service?

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                Last updated: 9 December November 1996 mkh