An Open Letter to Congress on the Future of Universal Connectivity

An appeals court ruled the current structure of the Universal Service Fund is unconstitutional. This decision puts at risk the high-speed connectivity of millions of rural and low-income Americans and the future trajectory of U.S. economic growth and global competitiveness. Now it’s Congress’s duty to promptly and decisively make clear the nation’s unwavering commitment to affordable, universal connectivity. The court’s fundamentally flawed decision hands Congress an enormously important opportunity to seize the initiative and ensure our nation’s abiding commitment to universal service. The broadband connectivity that the USF enables in turn drives the entire U.S. technology and internet ecosystem. The stakes are unimaginably high for your constituents and continued U.S. leadership of an intensely competitive global information economy. Fortunately, diligent work has been underway in Congress to forge a sustainable path forward to a lean, effective and modern Universal Service Fund. That path means dramatically reducing the fees on consumer telephone bills by expanding the base of contributors to include the primary financial beneficiaries of universal connectivity. Those beneficiaries are the handful of Big Tech platforms that have long dominated the global internet but don’t contribute to our shared national commitment to universal connectivity. Congress must move forward now with this modern and equitable funding approach, and remove any potential doubts regarding the future of these critical programs.