Performance Measures for the High Cost Universal Service Fund

Performance Measures for the High Cost Universal Service Fund PDF Author: Jerry Ellig
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Federal Communications Commission has spent $30 billion over the past decade on subsidies for phone service in high cost areas, but it has never developed outcome goals or measures to assess whether the subsidies have accomplished the intended results. Congress should require the FCC to measure the outcomes articulated in the Telecommunications Act: access in rural areas to services reasonably comparable to those in urban areas at reasonably comparable rates. Legislators should also require the FCC or independent analysts to: 1. Analyze how much of a change in these two outcomes the high cost fund has caused, 2. Assess how this change in access and price has affected subscribership, and 3. Estimate how this change in subscribership has affected the economic, social, and cultural opportunities available to rural households, or other broad social benefits the high cost fund is supposed to promote. This paper was originally submitted as written testimony to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet.

Performance Measures for the High Cost Universal Service Fund

Performance Measures for the High Cost Universal Service Fund PDF Author: Jerry Ellig
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Federal Communications Commission has spent $30 billion over the past decade on subsidies for phone service in high cost areas, but it has never developed outcome goals or measures to assess whether the subsidies have accomplished the intended results. Congress should require the FCC to measure the outcomes articulated in the Telecommunications Act: access in rural areas to services reasonably comparable to those in urban areas at reasonably comparable rates. Legislators should also require the FCC or independent analysts to: 1. Analyze how much of a change in these two outcomes the high cost fund has caused, 2. Assess how this change in access and price has affected subscribership, and 3. Estimate how this change in subscribership has affected the economic, social, and cultural opportunities available to rural households, or other broad social benefits the high cost fund is supposed to promote. This paper was originally submitted as written testimony to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet.

FCC Record

FCC Record PDF Author: United States. Federal Communications Commission
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Telecommunication
Languages : en
Pages : 894

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Universal Service

Universal Service PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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USF Distribution

USF Distribution PDF Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Replacement of the Legacy High-Cost Universal Support Fund with a Connect America Fund Key Economic and Legal Considerations

Replacement of the Legacy High-Cost Universal Support Fund with a Connect America Fund Key Economic and Legal Considerations PDF Author: Christian Michael Dippon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 15

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Book Description
On April 21, 2010, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) and a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that seek the public's input on the FCC's effort to replace the legacy high-cost universal service fund (USF) with a broadband "Connect America" fund (CAF). In effect, the FCC seeks to implement cost-cutting measures for existing voice support (USF) and create a new fund (CAF) to support the provision of broadband communications in areas that would be unserved without such support or that depend on USF support for the maintenance of existing broadband service. An initial review of the NOI/NPRM raises a number of key economic and legal considerations. In the following, we identify some of the considerations, questions, and challenges raised by the FCC's USF reform attempt, which is likely to have far-reaching consequences not only for operators that currently rely on USF subsidies or broadband providers in high-cost regions but for the entire communications industry.The purpose of this note is not to provide an all-inclusive list of, or responses to, the critical questions raised by the NOI/NPRM, but rather to illustrate the complexities of this proceeding and the impact the proposed reforms may have on industry performance. As the CAF is necessary for the success of the FCC's National Broadband Plan (NBP), the policy directions taken by the FCC in establishing it are critically important. USF reform is also essential to the performance and competitiveness of the U.S. communications industry and policy missteps could have serious economic and legal consequences.

Financial Services and General Government Appropriations for 2013

Financial Services and General Government Appropriations for 2013 PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Administrative agencies
Languages : en
Pages : 1084

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Appendix, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2008

Appendix, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2008 PDF Author:
Publisher: Office of Management & Budget
ISBN: 9780160775062
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 1246

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Book Description
Contains detailed information on the various appropriations and funds that constitute the budget. Designed primarily for the use of the Appropriations Committee. Details the financial information on individual programs and appropriation accounts. Includes for each agency: the proposed text of appropriations language; budget schedules for each account; new legislative proposals; explanations of the work to be performed and the funds needed; and proposed general provisions applicable to the appropriations of entire agencies or group of agencies. Also contains information on certain activities whose outlays are not part of the budget totals.

Reforming the Universal Service Fund for the Digital Age

Reforming the Universal Service Fund for the Digital Age PDF Author: Daniel Lyons
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 11

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Book Description
The federal Universal Service Fund program is in crisis. This observation is neither exaggerated nor controversial. Congress overhauled the program in 1996, ostensibly to assure that as the telecommunications industry transitioned from monopoly to competition, providers would continue to assist those who could not afford basic service. But in the fifteen years since, the fund has doubled in size to $8 billion annually, much of which is spent on projects having little to do with the traditional goals of universal service. The Federal Communications Commission has admitted that the system distorts investment in myriad ways, while the Government Accountability Office has criticized the program for an appalling lack of oversight. At the same time, advances in technology mean that the fund's cost is drawn from a shrinking base of interstate and international telecommunications revenue, which has caused the USF surcharge paid by consumers on all interstate calls to skyrocket from 3% in 1998 to 17.9% at the beginning of 2012. To the Commission's credit, it adopted a sweeping 750-page order in late 2011 that brought much-needed reforms to the High-Cost Fund, the biggest and most problematic portion of the Universal Service program. The Commission also began shifting the program's focus from ordinary telephone to broadband service, recognizing the importance of high-speed Internet access to modern society. But as significant as those reforms are, and as difficult as they will be to achieve, they represent only the first step toward the transformation needed. Over the next five years, the Commission should refocus the Universal Service program on what ought to be its renewed core mission: assisting consumers who cannot afford broadband access, through market-based, consumer-empowering initiatives that befit an increasingly competitive broadband marketplace. And it should abandon the antiquated and rickety contribution mechanism currently in place, by funding these initiatives instead from the general treasury.

Budget of the United States Government

Budget of the United States Government PDF Author: United States. Office of Management and Budget
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Budget
Languages : en
Pages : 1296

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Financial Services and General Government Appropriations For 2010, Part 4, 111-1 Hearings

Financial Services and General Government Appropriations For 2010, Part 4, 111-1 Hearings PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 1704

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