How Congress Can Expand Broadband Access for Americans in Need

A bipartisan group of senators is looking into Universal Service Fund (USF) reform and, even better, there are solutions on which both parties can agree. One is for Congress to simply roll the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) into USF's contribution regime and have it take the place of less efficient programs with similar mandates, like Lifeline. Or, to increase USF's efficiency, Congress can also remove the fund's needless and onerous barriers that only few carriers can overcome, like the eligible telecommunications carrier designation, to increase carrier participation and give low-income consumers more choice in providers. Candidly, dropping the eligible telecommunications carrier designation for other USF programs, like the High-Cost Program, would be an easy way to lower the costs of compliance and increase participation for high-cost recipients. Doing so would level the playing field and reduce the needless paperwork that often comes with such a designation. Most importantly, Congress should also fix the FCC's broken contribution mechanism for USF. Instead of unfairly saddling families, veterans, working adults, and the elderly, Congress should place the burden on the businesses that profit the most from broadband services. Those businesses should be the ones paying, not taxpayers. Congress could close the loopholes (such as the self-provision exemption) large telecommunications providers exploit to avoid contributing and ensure that Big Tech companies that profit tremendously from universal service pay their fair share.

[Joel Thayer is president of the Digital Progress Institute]