NTCA Voices Concerns Over FCC Proposal to Impose an Additional Overall Cap on the Universal Service Fund Budget

NTCA believes the Federal Communications Commission’s proposal to impose an additional cap atop all of the collective universal service programs is unnecessary and contrary to the statutory design of the programs. When Congress called for creation of these programs in 1996, it directed that each of these mechanisms should have sufficient funding. The proper way to fulfill this mandate is not to impose an overall cap on the programs that bears no relation to their respective missions at any given point in time, but rather to be diligent in evaluating each universal service programs’ respective needs and operations and to adopt an individual budget for each program that will be sized responsibly to provide sufficient funding for that program’s specific statutory mission. Furthermore, to the extent that there is concern about how universal service is paid for, it is time for a meaningful conversation about how those benefiting from increased capability of communications networks must contribute to the availability and sustainability of those networks – this is real fiscal responsibility, and essential as a matter of equity.