Telcos Offer Plan To Reform Universal Service

A group of six major telecommunications companies submitted a plan to the FCC to reform the Universal Service Fund (USF) and the Intercarrier Compensation (ICC) process. The six — including Verizon, AT&T, CenturyLink, Windstream, Frontier, and FairPoint — proposed the plan to "shift the focus of the Federal Communications Commission's Universal Service Fund to supporting broadband deployment nationwide."

More specifically, the America's Broadband Connectivity Plan hopes "to create a 'glide path' to help transition funding for phone service in rural areas to broadband deployment."

Critics of the present USF say that it subsidizes duplication of services to low-income and rural residents, and ignores the needed and explosive growth in broadband technology.

The newly proposed plan redirects $2.2 billion in USF subsidies to support broadband in rural areas with no broadband provider today, and establishes a transitional glide path to reform intercarrier compensation.

America’s Broadband Connectivity (ABC) Plan Framework (FCC)

Support grows for USF reform (The Hill)

6 large telcos put broadband, USF reform proposals on the table (FierceTelecom)