U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Todd Young (R-IN), and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) reintroduced the Funding Affordable Internet with Reliable (FAIR) Contributions Act. The legislation would direct the FCC to study the feasibility of collecting Universal Service Fund (USF) contributions from internet edge providers.
Through the USF, the FCC disburses approximately $10 billion per year to fund broadband deployment to high-cost rural areas, schools and libraries, rural health care facilities, telehealth services, and broadband subsidies for low-income Americans. The USF collects money from telecom carriers, set at a percentage of their interstate and international revenues. The carriers usually pass those amounts onto consumers in their monthly bills.
“The Universal Service Fund helps support broadband access in communities across the country, but as internet-based services become more dominant, we need to make a plan for the future of this program,” Wicker said. “It’s important to ensure the costs of expanding broadband are distributed equitably and that all companies are held accountable for their role in shaping our digital future.”
“The future is online and it’s critical that essential broadband programs receive robust funding,” said Luján, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband. “This report will examine how the largest tech companies can pay their fair share.”
Among other provisions, The FAIR Contributions Act would:
- Require the FCC to consider: Possible sources of Big Tech revenue, such as digital advertising and user fees
- The fairness of the current system and a system under which contributions could be assessed on Big Tech firms
- The feasibility of assessing contributions on such a broad category of firms that do not currently register with the FCC
- The effects such a change would have on Tribal, low-income, and elderly consumers, and
- The changes to current law necessary to implement this system
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