Key Issues : Expanding Access

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Approximately 93 million Americans either can’t afford broadband or don’t even have access to it in their area (14-24 million Americans). This problem, often referred to as the “digital divide,” prevents millions of Americans in rural areas or with low incomes from participating in a wealth of online culture and from accessing vital resources like online newspapers, directories, and job listings – many of which are leaving the paper world behind.

Public Knowledge’s Position

Broadband has become a necessity for social, political, and economic engagement. As such, Public Knowledge believes that broadband should be treated like the vital communication tool it is and that we should be working towards building a network infrastructure that we can be proud of, just as we were proud of the electric grid and the landline telephone network.

In order to achieve this, PK advocates reforming the Universal Service Fund (USF) to include provisions for strengthening broadband access in the U.S.

This is how the USF works right now:

  • Companies that provide interstate telecommunications services pay a “universal service” fee, which goes into the Universal Service Fund. (This fee is typically passed on to consumers, so you may recognize it from your bill.)
  • The USF, created by the FCC as mandated by the Telecommunication Act of 1996, then subsidizes telecommunication services through four programs:
    • High Cost: keeping telephone service costs in rural, hard-to-reach areas affordable by subsidizing infrastructure
    • Low Income: providing low-income consumers with needs-based discounts on basic, local telephone service
    • Rural Health Care: enabling doctors and patients in rural hospitals to connect to far-away specialists via “tele-health” and “tele-medicine,” typically meaning high-quality video conferencing and high-speed Internet access
    • Schools & Libraries: subsidizing internet access, telecommunications services, internal infrastructure, and basic maintenance of internal connections for schools and libraries on a needs basis

Public Knowledge advocates for the deployment of broadband services through the conversion of the Universal Service Fund (USF) from supporting regular dial-up service to also supporting broadband.

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