Six major US broadband providers have submitted a proposal to the FCC to change the Universal Service Fund (USF) so that it is focussed on providing access to broadband services to all Americans.
In a statement, AT&T, CenturyLink, Fairpoint…
Six major US broadband providers have submitted a proposal to the FCC to change the Universal Service Fund (USF) so that it is focussed on providing access to broadband services to all Americans.
In a statement, AT&T, CenturyLink, Fairpoint Communications, Frontier Communications, Verizon Communications and Windstream said that they had come to an agreement on the issue of USF with a separate group of trade associations representing smaller carriers.
The two groups – broadband providers and trade associations – have now put forward a shared proposal to the FCC on how to reform the USF system.
The two key components of the proposal are to focus the USF on broadband deployment and to rationalise Intercarrier Compensation (ICC), the system which determines how telcos bill one another for handling traffic.
In relation to the USF, the plan proposes that all Americans should have access to broadband within five years, where “broadband” is defined as a minimum of 4mbps downstream and 768kbps upstream.
The USF was originally used to expand access to fixed telephone services and then to mobile telephony. It is funded by a charge on the interstate and international long-distance revenues of providers.
The FCC is currently in the process of consulting on reforming the USF.
In a statement in February, it said: “Bringing robust, affordable broadband to all Americans is the great infrastructure challenge of our time.”
In the statement from the broadband providers, Hank Hultquist, a VP for AT&T Federal Regulatory, said: “To truly bring broadband services to all Americans, the rules of the road for the black rotary phone desperately needed to be updated for today’s competitive, high-speed communications networks. We look forward to continue to work with policymakers, Congress and others to ensure we accomplish this important goal this year.”
The three trade associations that also signed the letter to the FCC were the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunication Companies (OPASTCO) and the Western Telecommunications Alliance.
