AOL: USF Linked to Phone Numbers Would Cause "Issues"

AOL: USF LINKED TO PHONE NUMBERS WOULD CAUSE "ISSUES"
[SOURCE: VON Magazine, AUTHOR: Doug Mohney]
A senior AOL executive said charging a Universal Service Fee (USF) per phone number would cause some "issues" in the company's efforts to give away free phone numbers as a part of their AIM Phoneline voice service. "We don't want to see that (USF) dollar service charge as something that has to be added to something for free," said AOL Vice President Alex Quilici. "That would actually change the business model." Quilici said he believed that the proposed USF "phone number" fee would be around a dollar per phone number per month. He said free phone numbers through AOL's free Phoneline service would actually provide a form of universal access. In combination with a free broadband connection, "this does become universal, by providing a free phone service on top of their free broadband connection," Quilici said. "We don't want the service to cost a dollar."
http://www.vonmag.com/webexclusives/2006/05/11_AOL_USF.asp