Under current law, fees are levied on cell phone and
landline service subscribers to support the Universal Service Fund, which
spends about $8 billion a year - nearly all collected from surcharges on
telephone bills.
"The seven largest and most profitable companies in the
world built their franchises on the internet and the infrastructure we
provide," Stankey said in remarks at a telecom industry forum in Utah.
"Why shouldn’t they participate in ensuring affordable
and equitable access to the services of today that are just as indispensable as
the phone lines of yesteryear?"
The issue has taken on new urgency since a government
broadband internet subsidy program used by 23 million households ran out of
money in May and shut down after the White House unsuccessfully urged Congress
to dedicate another $6 billion.
Since 2020, Congress had allocated a total of $17 billion to
help lower-income families and people impacted by COVID get free or low-cost
internet.
The Universal Service Fund provides funding to help
low-income consumers, schools, libraries and rural health care providers to get
access to telephone or broadband internet service.
There are several proposals in Congress to require tech
companies and broadband providers to contribute to the fund.
Facebook's parent, Meta, and Google did not immediately
comment.
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