NCTA offers insight on how FCC can save $2B

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association offered up its advice yesterday on how the Federal Communications Commission can redirect $2 billion from subsidizing telephone companies in rural areas, where it said competition already exists to fund programs that actually promote broadband deployment and adoption.

The NCTA’s petition for rulemaking said it was critical that the FCC update its Universal Service Fund (USF) program. The NCTA said the existing USF program no longer reflects the current marketplace in which consumers have the choice of unsubsidized voice providers, including cable’s voice service, throughout much of the country. The petition included a study showing that the Commission was providing billions of dollars to incumbent phone companies (ILECs) that are serving areas where competitors have entered without any subsidy...