Universal Service Fund

The Federal Communications Commission adopted a Report and Order that sets the rules of the road for the upcoming transition between legacy Connect America Fund support in certain price cap areas, and new, auction-based support for voice and broadband. The Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II Auction, which closed in August of 2018, allocated nearly $1.5 billion in support for broadband in rural areas currently lacking it.

The American Cable Association said a number of the Federal Communications Commission legacy regulations "frustrate the public interest by imposing anti-competitive burdens on smaller operators." That came in comments to the FCC on its latest biennial review of telecom regulations, which it is charged with reviewing and modifying or jettison ones that are not, or no longer, in the public interest. ACA is particularly focused on the regulations on implementing the Universal Service Fund.

Since 1998, the E-Rate program (more formally known as the schools and libraries universal support mechanism) has provided support for connectivity to and within schools and libraries.

The Federal Communications Commission appoints FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks to serve on the Federal-State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations and the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service. In addition, Commissioner Starks becomes a member of the Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Services by virtue of his position on the FCC.

Since the 1930s, policymakers have known that rural communications is a “market failure” — something that happens when private companies cannot or will not provide a socially desirable good because of a lack of return on investment. At that time, electricity and telephone companies were simply unwilling to enter rural America: The population was too sparse and the geography too vast. As a result, President Franklin Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Administration in 1936 to provide loans and grants to rural electric and telephone companies.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau announces the soft launch date for the National Lifeline Eligibility Verifier in Alaska, American Samoa, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, the Northern Mariana Islands, Rhode Island, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Bureau also announces the full launch of the National Verifier in Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. Soft Launch – February 6: Alaska, American Samoa, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, the Northern Mariana Islands, Rhode Island, and the U.S.

The Federal Communications Commission and the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) are establishing a computer matching program to verify the eligibility of applicants to and subscribers of the Universal Service Fund (USF) Lifeline program. The categories of records involved in the matching program include, but are not limited to, a Lifeline applicant or subscriber’s full name; physical and mailing addresses; partial Social Security number or Tribal ID number; date of birth; qualifying person’s full name (if qualifying person is different from subscriber); qualifying person’s phy

The Federal Communications Commission will vote in Feb on proposed procedures for phasing out traditional Universal Service Fund (USF) support for areas served by price cap carriers in which the carrier did not accept funding through the Connect America Fund (CAF) to deploy broadband service. Those areas were subsequently made available for auction, with funding going to the network operator that offered to deploy broadband for the lowest level of support.

On June 18, 2018, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) and the Federal Communications Commission deployed the National Verifier (NV) system, kicking off the initial Soft Launch phase in six states. Since then, USAC has launched in ten additional states/territories across two separate launches. States and territories in the June 2018 and October 2018 launches are in the Full Launch phase, meaning carriers are required to use the NV system. In addition, consumers have access to use the system in these states.

The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) submitted the federal Universal Service Support Mechanisms fund size and administrative cost projections for the second quarter of calendar year 2019 (2Q2019), in accordance with Federal Communications Commission rules. USAC projects a consolidated operating and capital budget of $59.90 million for 2Q2019. Direct operating and capital costs for all support mechanisms total $34.66 million and are listed for each mechanism in the chart provided below.