Universal Service Fund

The [Federal Communications Commission] exercises tremendous power not only over the media, but also over consumers’ pocketbooks. Through the Universal Service Fund (USF) the agency has imposed burdensome taxes on American consumers to fund inefficient, ever-expanding programs. Nominees must be good stewards of funding and stand up for taxpayers’ interests. Despite being repeatedly excoriated by the [Government Accountability Office] and economists for failing to track where USF money was going, the current FCC leadership failed to learn from past mistakes in setting up the Affordable Conne

Federal Communications Commission nominee Anna Gomez left little doubt that if confirmed, she would vote in favor of classifying broadband as a Title II telecommunications service—a move that would enable the agency to prohibit carriers from blocking or throttling web traffic. Gomez told lawmakers that internet access was too essential to remain unregulated. “Title II gives the strongest oversight to the FCC over the service,” she added. Broadband is currently considered a Title I information service—and is largely unregulated. Title II classification, by contrast, would allow the FCC to im

The Federal Communications Commission originally budgeted $20.4 billion dollars for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) subsidy program to be spent over ten years. The original RDOF reverse auction offered $16 billion in subsidies. But in a story that is now well known, some entities bid RDOF markets down to ridiculously low subsidy levels, and only $9.4 billion was claimed in the auction. $2.8 billion of this funding ended up in default, including some of the bidders who had driven the prices so low. That means that only $6.4 billion of the original $20.4 billion has been allocated.

At the time the Federal Communications Commission Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) program winners were announced, $9.23 billion was committed over 10-years to cover over 5 million Unserved locations.

The Federal Communications Commission's Universal Service Fund (USF) faces its third recent challenge June 14 in oral arguments before the Eleventh Circuit over Congress’ delegation authority. The lawsuits from Consumers’ Research seek to clarify limits on Congress’ authority to delegate power to executive agencies, and what powers agencies can leave to private actors. In 2022, the USF approved nearly $7.5 billion in non-COVID spending on accessible broadband service, funded by its increasing contribution factor.

Typical of the bureaucratic nature of the federal government, rural broadband investments remain with traditional infrastructure, such as fiber-optic, cable modem, and DSL. While these technologies are important and economically viable in dense urban areas, we must recognize that new technologies are now available that will bring down costs and actually achieve the goal of total connectivity across the US.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated an order to her colleagues that would create the Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) program to require deployment of 100/20 Mbps or faster service to all locations served by the program.

More than 30 years since the first honk and screech of commercial dial-up, there is a conspicuously empty seat at the collective table of global high-speed connectivity. Six companies account for half of all internet traffic worldwide. These six companies have a combined market cap of $9 trillion. It’s a far cry from their garage start-up days, and without question, they are tremendous American success stories. However, does it still make sense that the government and broadband providers alone fund broadband infrastructure?

The US Department of Education, Federal Communications Commission, non-profit group Civic Nation, and broadband operators joined hands to launch a “Week of Action” designed to boost sign-ups for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP).