Rep. Matsui: Cap the USF, Ensure Broadband Adoption

Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA), a member of the House Communications Subcommittee, is trying to collect signatures on a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski asking him to ensure that its Universal Service Fund (USF) reforms include funding for broadband adoption as well as deployment, and that the FCC cap the fund.

"Consumers today contribute $4.5 billion annually toward the USF support for incumbent telephone companies in high-cost areas. Some of the plans proposed to the Commission would increase the amount of this support," the letter says, arguing that it need not be increased. "The availability of up to $4.5 billion per year, appropriately targeted to high-cost areas, should provide sufficient funding to support broadband deployment," she wrote. "A truly complete USF program would include adequate funding to bring critical programs, like broadband adoption initiatives modeled after the [phone-based] Lifeline and Link Up, into the broadband era," she said.