USF gets some good news from the Supreme Court—now what?

The Supreme Court has finally ruled to uphold the constitutionality of the Universal Service Fund, and telecommunications industry groups issued statements en masse praising the Supreme Court’s decision. But as they celebrated the end of the legal battle, they acknowledged there’s still a long road ahead for USF reform. “As welcome as this decision is, the underlying threat to the Universal Service Fund remains, with the program's funding shrinking by the day,” said Gigi Sohn, executive director of the American Association for Public Broadband. Telecommunications companies are currently required each quarter to contribute 36.6 percent of interstate and international service end-user revenues to the USF. But that pool of money continues to dwindle as fewer consumers subscribe to traditional telephone services. This issue, coupled with the demise of the Affordable Connectivity Program, “means that the promise of the USF program—to deliver affordable broadband directly to homes, schools and libraries, and rural communities—remains unfulfilled,” Sohn added.