5G Fund for Rural America

In its August meeting, the Federal Communications Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking titled Maximizing Efficiencies in Universal Service Administration Company that looks at changing the rules governing USAC, the Universal Service Administration. USAC is a non-profit corporation that was formed by the FCC after passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which created the Universal Service Fund.

The Future of Universal Service Reform Task Force chaired by, Mignon Clyburn and Rachelle Chong, was convened to explore how the nation’s universal service policies should evolve to meet the communications needs of the twenty-first century. Participants represented a broad range of perspectives, including consumer advocates, industry representatives, education and health care stakeholders, public interest organizations, and policy experts.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted a proposal to strengthen the management and administration of the Universal Service Fund (USF) and the FCC’s oversight of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). The proceeding builds on a prior inquiry into improving USAC’s administration of the USF and would launch a comprehensive review to ensure that funds are used for their intended purpose and the administration of those funds is efficient, fair, and cost-effective.

Judges probed the role of the $8 billion-per-year Universal Service Fund and its administrator. Conservative nonprofit Consumers’ Research is challenging the Federal Communications Commission program again, after a defeat at the Supreme Court in 2025. USF supports building and maintaining rural broadband networks, plus voice and internet discounts for low-income households, schools, and healthcare centers.

Maps of cellular internet coverage by AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon show a typical rural story of cellular coverage in a rural county in Illinois. Cell carriers rarely share towers, and each carrier is on different towers and has different coverage. All three carriers have areas where they have no 5G coverage, and somebody subscribed to any one carrier in this county would find a lot of dead zones. All three carriers have little or no coverage in the northwest sector.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr appointed seven members to the Board of Directors of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). Each position has a three-year term beginning on January 1, 2026, and ending on December 31, 2028. 

Public Knowledge and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance are launching the Connectivity Policy Corps, a nationwide program advancing digital inclusion and broadband policies that shape America’s digital future. The CPC will advance digital equity by elevating local expertise, storytelling, and community organizing into policy action that will inform debates surrounding broadband adoption and affordability to better connect and serve all Americans.

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling in May 2025 that the Universal Service Fund program is constitutional, Congress renewed its efforts to modernize the program. In August, the bipartisan, bicameral USF Working Group again invited public input through a request for comments on the future of USF funding structure and programs.

The Universal Service Fund, operated by the Federal Communications Commission in conjunction with the Universal Service Administrative Company, has grown old, expensive, and ineffective. It is past time for Congress to shrink, modernize, and retool it to address today’s broadband ecosystem. While the Supreme Court recently upheld the legal legitimacy of USF’s funding mechanism, the need to reform the program persists.

Rural broadband executives told lawmakers that Congress must modernize the Universal Service Fund to keep small town networks affordable and sustainable. “USF doesn’t just cover network construction, but also ongoing operations, maintenance, and upgrades,” said witness Karen Jackson-Furman, CEO of West Kentucky and Tennessee Telecommunications Cooperative.