NCTA: Telcos win in FCC overhaul of Universal Service Fund

Cable operators said Thursday that the FCC's plan to overhaul its Universal Service Fund in order to create a $4.5 billion "Connect America Fund" to deliver broadband Internet services to rural areas will favor telcos.

"While we are disappointed in the Commission's apparent decision to ignore its longstanding principle of competitive neutrality and provide incumbent telephone companies an unwarranted advantage for broadband support, we remain hopeful that the order otherwise reflects the pro-consumer principles of fiscal discipline and technological neutrality that will bring needed accountability and greater efficiency to the existing subsidy system," National Cable & Telecommunications Association president Michael Powell said in a prepared statement Thursday afternoon.

The FCC said its Connect America Fund will have an annual budget of more than $4.5 billion, and it estimated that it will create more than 500,000 jobs over the next six year.

The commission still hasn't released its full order detailing its reform of the Universal Service Fund, but the commission passed the order unanimously at a public meeting at its headquarters Thursday.

For more:
- see FCC release

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