Congress and the FCC can save the USF from sinking sand

One glimmer of hope from the pandemic: The Universal Service Fund (USF), the government fund designed to make sure everyone in the United States is digitally connected, finally may get an overdue overhaul. While lawmakers and policymakers long have recognized the need for a rebuild, the pandemic made it clear that reform no longer can wait. Taxing seniors’ disappearing landlines to subsidize lower-income Americans’ ballooning broadband fails our most vulnerable populations and undermines economic growth. Instead of tinkering with the existing funding mechanism, it’s time for fundamental change. Moving to a system of direct appropriations would be appropriate for this group of programs, since all sectors of our economy and society broadly benefit from broadband for all. This would be the most efficient, equitable and sustainable funding source possible. If adding an $8 billion line item to the annual congressional budget is deemed untenable, policymakers should look for alternative and sustainable sources of support, matching costs of universal broadband more closely to those companies that most handsomely profit from it. Since the goal is universal and accelerating broadband use, policymakers might resist increasing the price of these services through taxes and fees that get directly passed along via consumer access costs.

[Kim Keenan is ​​executive vice president for marketing and research for Odyssey Media. Keenan and Bruce Mehlman co-chair the D.C.-based Internet Innovation Alliance.]