A New Section 254: A “Connect All Americans” Proposal

A proposal to move the decisions about rural investment from Washington policymakers to individual rural Americans. If we change the locus of decisionmaking, the power will shift from lobbying and campaign contributions to service and consumer spending. Such a shift would spur rural investment and would also prevent most rural areas from being locked into one technology or one service provider. The following is an updated legislative or regulatory proposal for a new Section 254.

To effectuate access to low-income consumers and those in rural, insular, and high-cost areas, there shall be funds appropriated to the Federal Communications Commission sufficient to provide monthly support to households in rural, insular, and high-cost areas as well as low-income consumers. The FCC shall:

1. Identify the characteristics of Broadband Internet Access Services (“BIAS”) that are widely available in urban and suburban areas with respect to upstream and downstream speeds, capacity, and latency;
2. Determine the level of service subscribed to by a majority of residential customers through the operation of market choices in urban and suburban areas (“Minimum BIAS”);
3. Identify rural, high-cost areas using one of the current FCC models, such as the Connect America Model or Alternative Connect America Model;
4. Calculate an average level of monthly public support (“Monthly Support”) required to facilitate the construction, maintenance and operation of BIAS in rural, high-cost areas, according to one of the current FCC models, such as the Connect America Model or Alternative Connect America Model;
5. Make available to Eligible Telecommunications Carriers the level of Monthly Support for each low-income subscriber of Minimum BIAS and each subscriber of Minimum BIAS in rural, insular, and high-cost areas, provided that only one payment of Monthly Support is available per household, unless a subscriber is a low-income consumer in a rural, insular or high-cost area;
6. To streamline administration of this portable subsidy program, the FCC shall direct Univeral Service Administrative Company to combine the lifeline and high-cost programs into a single program, called the Connect All Americans program.