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Ajit Pai Wants to Cap Spending on Broadband for Poor People and Rural Areas

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday April 02 2019, @01:39PM   Printer-friendly
from the who-needs-the-internet-anyway dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has proposed a new spending cap on the FCC's Universal Service programs that deploy broadband to poor people and to rural and other underserved areas.

Pai reportedly circulated the proposal to fellow commissioners on Tuesday, meaning it will be voted upon behind closed doors instead of in an open meeting. Pai has not released the proposal publicly, but it was described in a Politico report Wednesday, and an FCC official confirmed the proposal's details to Ars. Democratic FCC commissioners and consumer advocacy groups have criticized Pai's plan, saying it could harm the FCC's efforts to expand broadband access.

The FCC's Universal Service system's purpose is to bring communications service access to all Americans and consists of four programs: The Connect America Fund, which gives ISPs money to deploy broadband in rural areas; Lifeline, which provides discounts on phone and broadband service to low-income consumers; the E-Rate broadband program for schools and libraries; and a telecom access program for rural health care providers.

Pai's plan suggests an $11.4 billion annual cap on the total cost of the four programs, which is more than current spending but would put an upper bound on what the program could spend in the future. The cap would be indexed for inflation, FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly wrote on Twitter.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/03/ajit-pai-wants-to-cap-spending-on-broadband-for-poor-people-and-rural-areas/

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  • (Score: 2) by arslan on Tuesday April 02 2019, @10:15PM (1 child)

    by arslan (3462) on Tuesday April 02 2019, @10:15PM (#823822)

    So.. assuming what you say is true, Ajit Pai is doing the right thing then by breaking that cycle? .. and channeling the funds for the better good or other evils..

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 03 2019, @01:59AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 03 2019, @01:59AM (#823896)

    We have at this point given billions to AT&T, Verizion, and comcast to build out networks both state and federal. Just ask the people of new york city and New Jersey how well that is working out.

    For example VZ has basically all but abandoned any sort of expansion. They took the money and bought out vodaphones share of verizon wireless. That does not build more fiber.

    If you want we can find hundreds more examples like this. In a few cases it is working. But overall we are getting ripped off.