May 2025

The government giveth, and the government taketh away? That may be the case for the future of school-bus Wi-Fi, which is currently eligible for E-Rate discount under the Federal Communications Commission’s Universal Services Fund. Whether that will continue is now uncertain due to court cases challenging the validity of the USF funding model. In late March, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on an appeal of a 5th Circuit decision that the Universal Service Fund’s revenue mechanism represents an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority.

This report examines the impact of broadband rate regulation on investment and competition. The study explores: 1) The state of the broadband market today 2) The nature of rate regulation and where it’s used and 3) The impact of  rate regulation on broadband. 

Plain old telephone service has been dying a slow death in the US since the turn of the century. For much of the 20^th century, almost every American household used only POTS to make a phone call. Now, only 1.3 percent of households rely on POTS to do so. What happened?

The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition and more than 80 national and state organizations urged the House of Representatives to vote NO on S.J.Res.7/H.J.Res.33—Congressional Review Act resolutions that would overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to allow E-Rate funding for wireless hotspot lending by schools and libraries, and bar future Commissions from funding hotspots.