AT&T: FCC Needs To Fix Universal Service Fund

AT&T says that the Federal Communications Commission cannot get serious about a national broadband plan until it fixes the Universal Service Fund. The FCC announcement Monday the latest USF contribution percentage, which is now at 12.9%, up from 9.5% at the beginning of the year, a whopping 36% increase. The fund's base continues to shrink as more people drop landline for wireless and Internet phone service. "The universal service fund is in a death spiral, driven by growing demands on the fund, the decline of the wireline model and consumer migration to other platforms and services," said AT&T in a statement. "These factors cause the government to ask for more money from a shrinking base of phone customers to support the goals of universal service. This vicious cycle leads to higher and higher USF fees.... In order to begin a discussion on a National Broadband Plan, the Commission must address comprehensive universal service reform."