FCC Wants To Shift Phone Subsidy Funds To Broadband

An anonymous reader writes "FCC chairman Julius Genachowski revealed plans yesterday to overhaul the U.S. phone subsidy program and shift its focus to providing broadband access. He said, 'Broadband has gone from being a luxury to a necessity for full participation in our economy and society. If we want the United States to be the world's leading market, we need to embrace the essential goal of universal broadband, and reform outdated programs.' According to BusinessWeek, the program currently 'supports phone service to schools, libraries, the poor and high-cost areas.' Last year it spent $4.3 billion to provide support to over 1,700 carriers in high-cost areas. Genachowski hopes the change will put the U.S. 'on the path to universal broadband service by the end of the decade.'"

Comments

How the FCC defines broadband

[tepples]

Three years ago, the FCC defined broadband as 768 kbps down. Two years later, it was changed to at least 4 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up, which would imply 400 to 500 kB/s downloads.

Re:Open up the books

[Overzeetop]

Actually, much of the "taxes" on the bills are "regulatory recovery fees." It's a dodge by the phone and elec companies to make their services look cheaper and to blame to government for making them do the right thing.

Imagine if the local Walmart started charging you a fee for the merchandise, then a 3% "regulartory recovery fee" for having to install stormwater management so the neighboring property didn't flood, plus a 4% "federal corporate tax" fee, and a 6% "Local Property Tax recovery fee". It's a cost of doing business and gets built into the price of the goods.

Some of the taxes are real, like the 911 fee which (surprise) pays for a 911 operator to be standing by waiting to get your emergency call and route it to the appropriate emergency service provider (police, fire, rescue, etc.)

Everyone seems to be down on taxes, but nobody wants reduced services.