USForward Responds to AT&T's Comments Regarding Universal Service Fund

The USForward group, consisting of Mattey Consulting—the Ad Hoc Telecom Users Committee, INCOMPAS, NTCA, Public Knowledge, the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition, and the Voice on the Net Coalition—filed a letter on July 8, 2022, in response to AT&T’s letter claiming the USForward Report and its recommendation to assess broadband internet access service revenues is based on a number of flawed assumptions. USForward said, among other things, that the report uses the Federal Communications Commission’s own projections for Universal Service Fund (USF) demand for existing USF programs to provide a consistent baseline for analysis and to avoid making any predictions about what changes the commission might make regarding USF distribution programs at some future date. "The USForward group agrees with AT&T that '[n]ow is the time for the FCC to act using its existing authority," the letter states. "Given we agree on the importance of immediate FCC reform and that the FCC has the authority to assess [broadband internet access services] revenues now, there is no need for the FCC to wait for additional authority from Congress to start reforming USF."