Universal Service Fund

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) appoints the Commissioners Nathan Simington and Anna Gomez to serve on the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service (Universal Service Joint Board) and the Federal-State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations (Separations Joint Board). In addition, Commissioners Simington and Gomez are members of the Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Services (Advanced Services Joint Conference) by virtue of their positions on the FCC. Commissioner Gomez shall further serve as the federal chair of the Universal Service Joint Board and the Advance

In comments to the Federal Communications Commission, associations representing rural broadband providers pushed back on a proposal to expand funding through the Universal Service Fund (USF) Schools and Libraries program (E-Rate) to include Wi-Fi hotspots at other sites outside of school and library buildings. Other commenters, however, said that the hotspots could connect students in low-income families, which they said should be a higher priority. The dispute began in October when the FCC adopted a Declaratory Ruling allowing E-Rate to fund school bus hotspots.

Spectrum announced the launch of Spectrum Internet, Mobile, TV and Voice services to more than 1,900 homes and small businesses in Cullman County, Alabama. Spectrum’s newly constructed fiber-optic network buildout is part of the company’s approximately $5 billion RDOF-related investment in unserved rural communities, partly offset by $1.2 billion in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) RDOF auction. The company’s RDOF expansion will provide broadband access to 1.3 million customer locations across 24 states in the coming years.

The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition along with the Open Technology Institute at New America (OTI), filed comments responding to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in support of E-Rate support for off-campus internet access. The NPRM proposes to allow schools and libraries to apply for funding from the FCC’s E-Rate program for Wi-Fi hotspots and wireless internet access services to be used by students and library patrons in need.

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) provides eligible customers a discount of up to $30 per month for broadband services. The benefits of the ACP—especially compared to other programs—is that it is tech-neutral; it does not limit users to a specific means of connection and gives customers choices over what service they want. Absent congressional intervention, the program is due to run out of funding as early as April 2024.

Reps John Curtis (R-UT) and Annie Kuster (D-NH) introduced the Rural Broadband Protection Act to combat waste fraud and abuse in federal broadband programs.

In December 2023, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued fines for two internet service providers that the FCC says defaulted on Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) obligations. RDOF was the FCC subsidy program where broadband subsidies were awarded by a reverse auction that ended in December 2020. The first fine was to Etheric Communications for $732,000 for 244 locations. Etheric was one of the largest RDOF winners, having won $248.6 million to cover 64,463 locations.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel informed Congress that without an additional $6 billion in funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), the program will run out of funds by mid-2024. The program, created with over $14 billion, is less than 2 years old.

Continuation of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) in some form seemed assured, and advocacy and industry groups support it, but opposition is growing. Opponents so far have been concentrating on the obvious:

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) has been a transformative force, connecting over 22 million households, but it's in trouble. This proposal would allow this national commitment to continue uninterrupted, bring greater accountability to Big Tech, and create a stable, permanent source of funding that would safeguard the program from the uncertainties of the annual appropriations process. 

• Step One: Maintain Connectivity- Congress needs to immediately provide stop-gap funding to keep the program operational while a permanent fix is put in place.