NCTA to FCC: Don't Expand USF Contribution Base to ISPs

Cable broadband operators are telling the Federal Communications Commission that it should not start making them pay into the Universal Service Fund, especially given the tens of billions of dollars in broadband subsidies the Biden Administration has offered up in COVID-19 and infrastructure laws. But that if the FCC does go that route, mobile broadband, including texting revenue and edge providers, should be added to the contribution rolls as well. NCTA The Internet & Television Association said that the FCC should leave any action on USF sustainability to Congress and should not take up contribution reform "at this time," particularly given marketplace changes over the past few years and "the issuance of massive amounts of federal funding to address important broadband deployment and adoption needs." "Any solution involving an expansion of the existing contribution base to include broadband revenue would represent a fundamental shift in USF contribution policy that should be undertaken by Congress." NCTA told the FCC that such a "fundamental repositioning" requires "buy-in and guidance" from Congress. NCTA said one way to make the contribution base more equitable includes "moving to an appropriations-based system or directing the Commission to develop a more equitable contribution base that includes the very largest tech platforms that have benefitted immensely from and owe their very existence to the deployment and use of the Internet."