ITIF - The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

08/06/2024 | News release | Archived content

How to Fund Universal Broadband Service Without the Universal Service Fund

The Fifth Circuit's decision declaring the Universal Service Fund unconstitutional is an upheaval, but also an opportunity.

As Joe Kane writes for Broadband Breakfast, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals threw federal broadband policy into chaos recently by declaring the Universal Service Fund unconstitutional. The decision threatens to shut down the FCC's longstanding system of collecting fees from telecommunications customers to subsidize rural broadband deployment and Internet access for low-income households, schools, and other programs.

Read the op-ed.