Thune, Klobuchar Push for Stand-alone Broadband USF Support
Two senators made another push for the FCC to act on stand-alone broadband USF support. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., wrote a joint opinion article for the Journal by IJReview, published Thursday, on…
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“5 Things Everyone Should Know About Broadband Access in Rural America.” The lawmakers peppered the piece with videos from the social media service Vine, showcasing brief clips of technologies such as the AOL dial-up process. The piece said that universal access to broadband is important and that the infrastructure investment is expensive but crucial. FCC “rules have failed to keep pace with the changing communications landscape and consumer preferences,” Klobuchar and Thune said. “Outdated rules effectively require rural Americans to pay for a traditional landline -- even if they no longer want one -- in order to get broadband services. These rules particularly disadvantage low-income consumers by putting the price of broadband out of reach unless they pay for additional, duplicative landline phone service.” They said developing a stand-alone broadband support mechanism is a “common-sense fix.” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has told Congress he’s on track to develop such a fix by year’s end. Thune and Klobuchar led a letter this year with dozens of colleagues backing stand-alone broadband (see 1505120041).