A Better Way to Fund USF

There is a political consensus that the United States should continue its nearly century long commitment to assuring that the tools of modern communications are universally accessible and affordable. There is also a consensus that the primary program through which we keep that commitment—the Federal Communications Commission’s Universal Service Fund (USF)—is breaking down. While it has multiple problems, including legal and administrative challenges, the primary problem is that the system by which we fund USF is unsustainable. As many readers may know, any entity that provides interstate telecommunications services to the public for a fee must contribute to the USF. Various new mechanisms have been proposed but we think there is a better way: assess online gambling.

[John B. Horrigan is a Benton Senior Fellow and a national expert on technology adoption, digital inclusion, and evaluating the outcomes and impacts of programs designed to promote communications technology adoption and use. Blair Levin is the Policy Advisor to New Street Research and a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings Metro​.]