Examples of entities that contribute to the Fund are telecommunications carriers, including wireline and wireless companies, and interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers, including cable companies that provide voice service. The Universal Service Fund is paid for by contributions from providers of telecommunications based of an assessment on their interstate and internation end-user revenues.

Lifeline (for low-income consumers), including initiatives to expand phone service for residents of Tribal lands.

Connect America Fund (formally known as High-Cost Support) for rural areas.

The FCC established four programs within the Universal Service Fund to implement the statute. Additional principles called for increased access to high-speed Internet in the nation’s schools, libraries and rural health care facilities. The Act established principles for universal service that specifically focused on increasing access to evolving services for consumers living in rural and insular areas, and for consumers with low-incomes. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 expanded the traditional goal of universal service to include increased access to both telecommunications and advanced services – such as high-speed Internet – for all consumers at just, reasonable and affordable rates. Today, the FCC recognizes high-speed Internet as the 21 st Century’s essential communications technology, and is working to make broadband as ubiquitous as voice, while continuing to support voice service.

Since that time, universal service policies have helped make telephone service ubiquitous, even in remote rural areas. Universal service is a cornerstone of the law that established the FCC, the Communications Act of 1934. Universal service is also the name of a fund and the category of FCC programs and policies to implement this principle. Universal service is the principle that all Americans should have access to communications services.

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