Terry–Ross Letter Supports Telco USF Plan

Reps. Lee Terry (R-NE) and Mike Ross (D-AR) are circulating a dear colleague letter, asking the Federal Communications Commission to keep "key elements" of the telco-backed America's Broadband Connectivity plan for reforming the Universal Service Fund (USF) and Intercarrier Compensation (ICC) regime.

USF is the subsidy for phone service in areas where there is not a private business case for service, while ICC is the way telecoms compensate each other for handing off phone traffic. The FCC is expected next month to propose its USF/ICC reforms. It sought comment on the ABC and other plans, and got plenty of it. The letter does not expressly endorse the ABC plan, or identify just what needs to be preserved. But the legislators do say that the ABC plan, in combination with a separate plan from the Joint Rural Association, "appear to embody the core principles of the commission's National Broadband Plan, which they identify as migrating the Universal Service Fund to broadband in a 'competitively neutral' manner." They argue that the framework provides "a path forward" to comprehensive reform.