IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/telpol/v45y2021i2s0308596120301294.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reforming funding of universal access to telecommunications and broadband services: Approaches for the new decade

Author

Listed:
  • Glass, Victor
  • Tardiff, Timothy

Abstract

The FCC universal service support fund's revenue base has been shrinking while the payouts have risen. As a result, the contribution factor, an ad valorem tax on the revenue base, rose from 16.7% in 2017 to 21.2% in 2020. We propose two solutions to the funding problem: A near-term funding reform proposal that widens the revenue base by replacing the current definition of assessable services (interstate and international) with a more inclusive definition of all communication services that have a telecommunications component. A longer-term strategy is to expand the revenue base to include basic utility network revenues. This proposal assumes that it is cost effective to develop one physical broadband network (landline and wireless) in high-cost areas and use the latest software-defined technologies to allow utilities to either split the physical network's functionalities into independent or cooperative virtual networks.

Suggested Citation

  • Glass, Victor & Tardiff, Timothy, 2021. "Reforming funding of universal access to telecommunications and broadband services: Approaches for the new decade," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(2).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:telpol:v:45:y:2021:i:2:s0308596120301294
    DOI: 10.1016/j.telpol.2020.102037
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596120301294
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.telpol.2020.102037?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jeffrey T. Macher & John W. Mayo & Olga Ukhaneva & Glenn A. Woroch, 2017. "From universal service to universal connectivity," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 77-104, August.
    2. Glass, Victor & Tardiff, Timothy, 2019. "The Federal Communications Commission's rural infrastructure auction: What is hidden in the weeds?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(8), pages 1-1.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xia, Jun, 2022. "Juggling ecumenical wisdoms and xenophobic institutions: Framing and modelling China's telecommunications universal service and rural digitalization initiatives and policies," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(2).
    2. Hollman, Angela K. & Obermier, Timothy R. & Andrews, Jesse R., 2024. "A hard look at quality and policy from the lens of the rural internet consumer," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(6).
    3. Edward J. Oughton & Ashutosh Jha, 2021. "Supportive 5G Infrastructure Policies are Essential for Universal 6G: Assessment using an Open-source Techno-economic Simulation Model utilizing Remote Sensing," Papers 2102.08086, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2021.
    4. Oughton, Edward J. & Comini, Niccolò & Foster, Vivien & Hall, Jim W., 2022. "Policy choices can help keep 4G and 5G universal broadband affordable," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    5. King, Jesse & Gonzales, Amy L., 2023. "The influence of digital divide frames on legislative passage and partisan sponsorship: A content analysis of digital equity legislation in the U.S. from 1990 to 2020," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(7).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yifeng Philip Chen & Edward J. Oughton & Jakub Zagdanski & Maggie Mo Jia & Peter Tyler, 2023. "Crowdsourced data indicates broadband has a positive impact on local business creation," Papers 2308.14734, arXiv.org.
    2. Philip Chen & Edward J Oughton & Pete Tyler & Mo Jia & Jakub Zagdanski, 2020. "Evaluating the impact of next generation broadband on local business creation," Papers 2010.14113, arXiv.org.
    3. Edward J. Oughton & Ashutosh Jha, 2021. "Supportive 5G Infrastructure Policies are Essential for Universal 6G: Assessment using an Open-source Techno-economic Simulation Model utilizing Remote Sensing," Papers 2102.08086, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2021.
    4. Hollman, Angela K. & Obermier, Timothy R. & Andrews, Jesse R., 2024. "A hard look at quality and policy from the lens of the rural internet consumer," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(6).
    5. Glenn A. Woroch, 2020. "Spectrum Concentration and Performance of the U.S. Wireless Industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 56(1), pages 73-105, February.
    6. Woroch, Glenn A, 2020. "Spectrum Concentration and Performance of the U.S. Wireless Industry," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt8vv381jt, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    7. Oughton, Edward J. & Comini, Niccolò & Foster, Vivien & Hall, Jim W., 2022. "Policy choices can help keep 4G and 5G universal broadband affordable," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    8. Thomas S. Conkling, 2020. "Compliance and competition with heterogeneous service providers: the federal Lifeline program," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 74-104, February.
    9. Sörries, Bernd & Nett, Lorenz & Wissner, Matthias, 2020. "Die Negativauktion als ein Instrument zur Versorgung weißer Flecken mit Mobilfunkdiensten," WIK Discussion Papers 463, WIK Wissenschaftliches Institut für Infrastruktur und Kommunikationsdienste GmbH.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:telpol:v:45:y:2021:i:2:s0308596120301294. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30471/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.