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NRECA is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to sustain the Universal Service Fund and its aid for deploying rural broadband as the Federal Communications Commission’s signature program faces legal challenges.
NRECA joined CoBank, National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corp. and other organizations in an amicus brief to FCC v. Consumers Research outlining to the Supreme Court why the 30-year-old USF must remain intact and how its elimination “will disrupt reliable communication services and devastate rural communities.”
The justices are expected to decide the fate of the fund as early as this summer after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans last year decided the FCC’s administration of the USF was unconstitutional. The lower court ruled that both Congress' delegation to the FCC to collect revenues for the USF and the commission's mechanism to do so were unlawful.
Telecommunications providers contribute to the fund, which in turn the FCC distributes as financial support for rural broadband deployment and adoption through auctions and other programs, including the Connect America Fund, the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund and Lifeline.
“It is critical that the Supreme Court overturn the Fifth Circuit decision,” said Greg Orlando, NRECA regulatory affairs director.
“The USF has played a crucial role in supporting rural broadband deployment and ensuring affordability. If the fund is eliminated, the digital divide will widen, and precision agriculture, remote work, life-saving telehealth services and emergency 911 access will suffer.”
In the brief, NRECA and the other organizations describe how the USF is critical for deployment, maintenance and upgrades of communications networks in rural areas and its loss would adversely impact on rural providers and the communities they serve.
“Without access to high-quality broadband at reasonable rates, Americans lose the benefits of remote work, telehealth, online education, e-commerce, online socialization and participation in online society,” the brief said.
Orlando said NRECA is hopeful that the fund will survive.
“Without the aid of this FCC program, too many rural communities will be left behind or face very costly broadband service,” he said. “Having universal high-speed internet is now too important to lose.”
