USF: Subsidizing Rural America, Untangling the Line - Communications Solutions

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»Free Premium Content Communications Solutions: 5/09/2011 eNewsletter

Featured Articles Verizon's Corporate Responsibility Report Shows the Impact of Its Technologies on Social Issues SoundBite Announces New Preference Management Platform Denmark Telco TDC Selects JDSU to Support LTE Network Deployment State of West Virginia Renews Long Distance Contract with Method One and TouchTone Sponsored By: ITEXPO West - September 13-15, 2011, The Austin Convention Center, Austin, TX ITEXPO is the event with an educational program that teaches resellers, enterprises, SMBs, and Government Agencies how to select IP-based voice, video, fax, and unified communications to purchase or resell. It's where service providers learn how to profitably roll out services their subscribers are clamoring for. ITEXPO is where buyers, sellers, resellers, and manufacturers meet to forge relationships and close deals.   Top Stories » SocialShield Study Reveals Parent Concern Over Social Networking » Report: Non Uniform Growth in the Global Handset Shipments Market » AT&T Bolsters Parents' Control over Children's Mobile Phone Experience » Amdocs Wins the Prestigious 2011 AT&T Supplier Award   From The Expert Corner May 06, 2011 USF: Subsidizing Rural America, Untangling the Line By Barlow Keener, Attorney On February 9, 2011, the FCC (News - Alert) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on numerous proposed changes to “fundamentally modernize” the USF (Universal Service Fund) and another subsidy program called the “intercarrier compensation system.” The USF “High Cost Fund” is a multibillion dollar annual subsidy created in 1996. The High Cost Fund is a tangled web of caps, cost studies, and complex rules. The USF High Cost Fund quietly transfers a significant amount of money - $4.8 billion every year - from urban telephone customers to rural telephone customers. There is a “quiet transfer” because the typical customer paying the USF fee and the typical customer receiving the fee have no clue that the USF fee is supporting the telephone service for rural customers. Other USF fees fund geo-neutral services: the $1.2 billion Low Income fund and $2.7 billion Schools & Libraries E-rate fund. A grand total of $8.7 billion per year is collected and distributed under the plan. To put this amount in perspective, two years of USF collections equals 12.5% of the total amount of $134 billion Recovery Act stimulus funds received during 2009 and 2010... Read More   Featured Video The Flip Retires   TMCnet Free Premium Content » Strategic Solutions Series Presents Hosted VoIP » Keep Your Healthcare Business Secure and Compliant! » Whitepaper: virtualization reduces costs and complexity for mid-sized businesses    Latest Blogs » Facebook and Google Eye Skype » Jabra SPEAK 410 Review » Skype Fixes Privacy Vulnerability in Skype for Android   Featured Channels » Communications Solutions » Telecom Cost Management » VoIP Call Recording   Webinars Download One of Our Webinars Today to learn about new opportunities to enhance your business. http://www.tmcnet.com/webinar/   Contact Us   Company Directory    |    All Editors' Info   Become a TMCnet Columnist! Become a TMCnet columnist! Want to contribute your expertise to a growing audience of IP Communications professionals? Become a writer, blogger or columnist for the TMCnet Web site and this newsletter. Contact TMCnet Group Editorial Director, Erik Linask, at elinask@tmcnet.com for details.

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