USF Reform Hits House

USF REFORM HITS HOUSE
[SOURCE: EarthWebNews]
Reps Lee Terry (R-NE) and Rick Boucher (D-VA) introduced legislation last week to extend Universal Service Fund (USF) contributions to Voice over IP and broadband services. Currently, local and long distance telephone companies, wireless providers, paging firms and pay phone companies are obligated to contribute to the fund, which subsidizes phone service in under-served or rural areas. The USF, through the E-rate program, also funds Internet connections in schools and libraries. Payments into the fund are collected through consumers' telephone bills. The Universal Service Reform Act of 2006 would remove VoIP and broadband's exemption from USF contributions. The representatives said their bill would encourage the deployment of broadband, especially in rural areas, by allowing recipients to use universal service support to deploy broadband within their service areas. The legislation also requires recipients of universal service support to deploy broadband with a download speed of at least 1 megabit per second within 5 years of enactment.
http://news.earthweb.com/bus-news/article.php/3596281
* To learn more about the bill, see http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/849