Federal regulators on Tuesday released the details of the National Broadband Plan, an effort to encourage the spread of high-speed Internet access through out the United States. The 376-page proposal already raising questions, even from the supporters, about its goals.
If you ever got a telephone bill (in USA), you know what the Universal Service Fund is. Created with greatest intensions, USF has become a white elephant, spending more in administration not targeting the subsidies properly.
But FCC and it's chairman is seeking to use Universal Service Fund as a vehicle for executing it's Broadband plans. But FCC seem to have missed to see that it need to repurpose current funds and loading the fund with additional monies to the tune of $8 billion by taxing customers of the carriers further.
NYT is carring an article on the subject;
Chief among its goals, the F.C.C. wants future broadband investment to be focused on the areas where gaps in service remain. It will direct this investment in part through the Universal Service Fund, a program for telephone and Internet access, costing $8 billion annually, paid through a phone bill surcharge. Over time, the subsidies for Internet will increase and those for phone will dissipate, with the knowledge that people can make online calls.“Some of the details are lacking, particularly on Universal Service Fund reform,” said Dan Mitchell, a vice president for the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, a group that represents rural providers and worries that the proposals to change phone carrier costs will curtail the providers’ abilities to expand infrastructure.
NYT
The National Broadband Plan
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