NTCA Articulates Data-Driven Vision to Modernize the Universal Service Fund’s High-Cost Program

NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association today filed comments with the FCC responding to its request for input on modernizing the Universal Service Fund's High-Cost Program.

In the comments, NTCA articulates a data-driven vision to modernize the High-Cost Program that takes careful account of its many successes to date and suggests how to build upon these in undertaking reforms. NTCA's proposals include extending the Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) I program to correspond to the terms of other existing A-CAM programs, aligning existing support mechanisms in a comprehensive Extended A-CAM program that will provide sufficient and predictable support to meet rural consumers' needs over the long-term, and updating the USF cost model to better reflect the costs associated with building and operating robust and reliable networks.

"The success of rural broadband did not happen by accident, and there's a reason that the parts of rural America served by NTCA members have been light years ahead of other rural areas when it comes to cutting-edge connectivity," said NTCA CEO Mike Romano. "It is the result of decades of investment by community-based providers, supported by a USF that has made it possible to build and sustain networks where the economics simply would not otherwise work. At its core, our vision is straightforward: build on a program that has served rural America well, modernize it to reflect marketplace realities and provide the certainty needed for continued investment in and operation of rural broadband networks and delivery of services that will keep pace with user demand and keep services more affordable now and into the future."