Monday, November 13, 2006
Congress should hold hearings on Universal Service
In the best case, Universal Service is corporate welfare that supports older, less relevant telco services. In a more Reality-Based view, Universal Service has become an ineffective, corrupt slush fund for the minions of a dying industry.
By the end of January, Congress should subpoena the principals of the Universal Service Administrative Company and the heads of the remaining telcos to explain themselves. Then they should hear from a representative sample of people who actually could use affordable Internet access (and other) services. They should question them all until the truth comes out. Then they should act.
Susan Crawford speaks definitively on this issue in a recent blog entry:
By the end of January, Congress should subpoena the principals of the Universal Service Administrative Company and the heads of the remaining telcos to explain themselves. Then they should hear from a representative sample of people who actually could use affordable Internet access (and other) services. They should question them all until the truth comes out. Then they should act.
Susan Crawford speaks definitively on this issue in a recent blog entry:
. . . If Congress takes a hard look at the state of universal service today they'll be horrified. Graft, bloat, corruption -- paying for services that haven't been provided, paying more to more recipients by raising assessments, funding old stagnant service providers. . . lots of material here for dramatic camera-covered hearings. Lots of good Perry Mason moments. And, at the end, we'll have to decide that what the US should really be funding is broadband access, not access to traditional telephone services.Yeah.
Traditional voice telephone services are quickly being taken over by much less expensive internet services, so it makes little sense to continue funding the former as a national policy matter . . .
Technorati Tags: Politics, Telco, UniversalService
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