Download or read book Crs Report for Congress written by Congressional Research Service: The Libr and published by BiblioGov. This book was released on 2013-11 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The concept that all Americans should be able to afford access to the telecommunications network, commonly called the "universal service concept" can trace its origins back to the 1934 Communications Act. Since then, the preservation and advancement of universal service has been a basic tenet of federal communications policy, and Congress has historically played an active role in helping to preserve and advance universal service goals. The passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (P.L.104-104) not only codified the universal service concept, but also led to the establishment, in 1997, of a federal Universal Service Fund (USF or Fund) to meet the universal service objectives and principles contained in the 1996 Act. According to Fund administrators, from 1998 through end of year 2005, $43.5 billion was distributed, or committed, by the USF, with all 50 states, the District of Columbia and all territories receiving some benefit. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is required to ensure that there be "specific, predictable and sufficient...mechanisms to preserve and advance universal service." However, changes in telecommunications technology and the marketplace, while often leading to positive benefits for consumers and providers, have had a negative impact on the health and viability of the USF, as ...
Download or read book Reforming the Universal Service Fund for the Digital Age written by Daniel Lyons and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 11 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Making Universal Service Policy written by Barbara A. Cherry and published by Routledge. This book was released on 1999-08-01 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the outgrowth of shared interests between the editors and the contributing authors to provide a multidisciplinary perspective in evaluating universal service policy and recommending policy changes to accommodate a more competitive telecommunications environment. The book is interdisciplinary in nature to reflect the extremely complex context in which universal service policy is formed. The chapter authors represent a broad cross-section of disciplinary training, professional positions, and relationships in the telecommunications industry. Academic disciplines represented include law, economics, anthropology, communication, and business. This book's purpose is to significantly enhance the development of effective telecommunications universal service policy among policymakers, industry members, and stakeholders in the United States. Universal service policy has been, and will continue to be, both enabled and constrained by the simultaneous interaction of social, political, technological, and economic forces in the environment in which it is formed. A more effective process for policy design is to seek agreement on how entitlements embedded in universal service policy should be modified as circumstances invariably change over time. Therefore, the volume reflects recent significant developments in U.S. universal service policy--the implementation of which continues to unfold.
Download or read book The Present and Future of the Universal Service Fund written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Universal Service The high cost fund written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Universal Service Fund written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Universal Service written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Future of Universal Service written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Subcommittee on Communications and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Telecommunications written by Lorelei St. James and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2011-05 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The FCC¿s Low-Income Program, administered by the Universal Service Administrative Co. and supported by the Universal Service Fund, provides low-income households with discounts on installation costs for new telephone service and monthly charges for basic telephone service. This report examined: (1) how program participation and support payments have changed over the last 5 years (2005-2009), and factors that may have affected participation; (2) the extent to which goals and measures are used to manage the program; and (3) the extent to which mechanisms are in place to evaluate program risks and monitor controls over compliance with program rules. Includes recommendations. Charts and tables. A print on demand report.
Download or read book Universal Service in a Competitive Local Exchange Telecommunications Environment written by Donald Gale and published by Universal-Publishers. This book was released on 2006-05-22 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The telecommunications industry has evolved into a very competitive industry since 1980. Aggressive competition is the norm in the long distance, equipment, operator services and many other segments of the industry. The remaining segment of the market without widespread meaningful competition is the "last-mile" wireline service to the customer premise. Incumbent local exchange carriers enjoy a monopoly to serve nearly all residences and most business customers, collecting over 99% of all local exchange service revenues. Using their monopoly status, incumbents have developed a cross-subsidy system which uses the rates paid by some customers to lower the rates paid by others to support a policy known as "universal service." This policy has resulted in telephone service reaching 94% of America's households. Carriers claim that this policy cost them $20 billion annually, potential entrants claim the true cost is as low as $4 billion and the rest is profit. In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress ordered the end of the local exchange monopoly and opened the local markets to competition. Congress also specified the continuation of universal service, specified that telephone penetration should be increased and specified that the universal service concept will be applied to America's schools, libraries and rural health centers. Congress also specified that, unlike today, all carriers will contribute fairly and equitably fairly to the universal service fund and that all carriers providing local service, including new competitors, will be eligible to receive support from the fund. The cost to meet these requirements in a competitive environment totals $7.2 billion, or 5.1% of net carrier revenue. This thesis addresses the definition of universal service and the services that should be eligible for support, the new competitive environment, how to collect the universal service support fund, and how to best distribute the funds to customers targeted to receive support from the system: those in high-cost areas, low-income consumers, and schools and libraries for advanced communications services.
Download or read book Assessing the State of the Universal Service Fund written by Daniel Lyons and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The basic tenet of universal service -- that the government should assist those who struggle to access the network -- has long been a cornerstone of American telecommunications policy. This mission takes on greater significance in the digital age, when internet access is important for not just communication but also employment, commerce, education, and countless other activities.Unfortunately, while the Universal Service Fund's goals are sound, there is significant room for improvement regarding modernizing these programs for the digital age. This is particularly true of Lifeline, which has been repeatedly criticized as ineffective, incomplete, and unnecessarily paternalistic. The committee should also consider re-evaluating E-Rate in light of the mixed evidence of its effectiveness. Through trial and error, the High Cost Fund has made a more successful transition to the broadband era and has yielded important lessons that the program should retain going forward.
Download or read book Connect America Fund Universal Service Reform Mobility Fund Us Federal Communications Commission Regulation Fcc 2018 Edition written by The Law The Law Library and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-10-06 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Connect America Fund Universal Service Reform-Mobility Fund (US Federal Communications Commission Regulation) (FCC) (2018 Edition) The Law Library presents the complete text of the Connect America Fund Universal Service Reform-Mobility Fund (US Federal Communications Commission Regulation) (FCC) (2018 Edition). Updated as of May 29, 2018 In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) resolves the remaining petitions for reconsideration regarding the requirements for Mobility Fund Phase II (MF-II). The Commission revises the language of its rule for collocation, and reduces the value of the letter of credit that a Mobility Fund Phase II support recipient is required to hold after the Universal Service Administration Company (USAC), together with the Commission, has verified that the MF-II support recipient has achieved significant progress toward completing their buildout and service provision requirements. The Commission affirms its Mobility Fund Phase II rules in all other respects. This book contains: - The complete text of the Connect America Fund Universal Service Reform-Mobility Fund (US Federal Communications Commission Regulation) (FCC) (2018 Edition) - A table of contents with the page number of each section
Download or read book Performance Measures for the High Cost Universal Service Fund written by Jerry Ellig and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Telecommunications written by U.s. Government Accountability Office and published by . This book was released on 2017-08-16 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Low-Income Program, administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) and supported by the Universal Service Fund (USF), provides low-income households with discounts on installation costs for new telephone service and monthly charges for basic telephone service. In this requested report, GAO examined (1) how program participation and support payments have changed over the last 5 years (2005-2009), and factors that may have affected participation; (2) the extent to which goals and measures are used to manage the program; and (3) the extent to which mechanisms are in place to evaluate program risks and monitor controls over compliance with program rules. GAO surveyed state public utility commissions; reviewed key policies, procedures, and rules; and interviewed agency officials and stakeholders."
Download or read book Regulating Telecommunications in South Africa written by Charley Lewis and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 2021-06-25 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides the first full account of the 20-year story of universal access and service in South Africa’s ICT sector. From 1994 the country’s first democratic government set out to redress the deep digital divide afflicting the overwhelming majority of its citizens, already poor and disenfranchised, but likewise marginalised in access to telephone infrastructure and services. By this time, an incipient global policy regime was driving reforms in the telecomms sector, and also developing good practice models for universal service. Policy diffusion thus led South Africa to adopt, adapt and implement a slew of these interventions. In particular, roll-out obligations were imposed on licensees, and a universal service fund was established. But an agency with a universal service mandate was also created; and licences in under-serviced areas were awarded. The book goes on to identify and analyse the policy success and failure of each of these interventions, and suggests some lessons to be learned.
Download or read book Telecommunications Regulation Handbook written by Hank Intven and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Focusing on Success written by Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report shows how Universal Service Fund support for schools and libraries is used by school districts and libraries around the country. Highlighted are approximately 190 success stories of program participants that have come to rely on the USF to expand educational opportunities for students through better use of telecommunications technology in the classroom.
