Protecting the concept of Universal Service and promoting an effective Universal Service Fund (USF) has long been the defining issue for NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association, which is why NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield was so relieved when the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the USF last June.
“Talk about feeling like a 100,000-pound weight got lifted off your shoulders,” Bloomfield said in an interview with Telecompetitor earlier this month. “I was proud of the NTCA board for allocating the resources for us to intervene in that case and be a player. It’s not something we’ve done in the past. But the NTCA board said, ‘This is our north star.’”
The Supreme Court decision was released on one of the final days of the Court’s June session, and the NTCA staff waited for it with growing nerves. Remembering how she felt when the decision was announced, Bloomfield said, “I was relieved and appreciative. Now we can take the next step for this industry instead of tying ourselves in knots arguing the constitutionality of Universal Service contributions over and over.”
Bloomfield and NTCA are now focused on working with Congress’s Universal Service Fund Working Group and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
NTCA provides regular input to the USF Working Group, and Bloomfield is impressed with the group’s work. “There are really good thinkers around that table,” she said. “It’s bipartisan, bicameral, and includes folks who represent rural areas. There’s a really good composition of legislators.”
Bloomfield said she hopes Congress and the FCC will consider the role big tech companies should play in Universal Service funding. She noted that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has looked favorably on the idea of big tech contributing to the USF in the past, and said, “I’m hopeful that Congress will say, ‘Let’s think about who benefits from Universal Service, and then let’s also think about who should play a role in contributing.’”
Why Universal Service matters
Why is Universal Service still such a key issue for NTCA? “If we believe in the tenet that all Americans, no matter where they live, should have access to comparable and affordable communication services —which now includes broadband — Universal Service is the core concept that allows companies to build that business case and deploy a network so we can live up to that tenet,” Bloomfield said.
Bloomfield worked in the telecom industry during the passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. The thinking behind the legislation, she said, “is that we as a country do better when we’re all connected.”
Because the Universal Service Fund is aimed at ensuring the ongoing availability of comparable services, providers rely on it not just to help make the business case for building new networks but to sustain existing networks and make services more affordable. Knowing that support for maintenance and operations will be available gives providers the assurance they need to take on network expansion projects.
“[As a provider,] I’m not just putting [cables] into the ground, but I am making sure that it’s a long-term investment. [The USF] allows me to do it at a price that the consumer can afford. Because, at the end of the day, if we are building networks that people can’t afford, we haven’t really moved the needle.”
The Universal Service Fund is, “in a lot of ways, an affordability program,” she said. It enables providers to charge reasonable prices for service in rural areas, where the costs of deployment and maintenance are much higher. That’s a key step toward the vision of all Americans having access to connectivity.
This is the third article in a four-part series of interviews with Shirley Bloomfield, who will retire from her position with NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association in March. The other three articles are:
