Telephone Wires Trump Broadband Networks

How do you communicate with your clients?  In your work with the public, what do you see as growing needs for communication?  What systems are already in place and functioning, and what needs development?

As a tax payer, you support the Universal Service Fund, but what this fund accomplishes must constantly be revisited as citizens’ needs change.

Discussions on the USF center on the following questions:

• Which companies should pay for the program?
• Who should receive benefits through the fund?
• Does the program meet the needs of changes in technology and the economy?

The organization Free Press published a press release that highlights the renewed debate about the Universal Service Fund.  Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is central to this debate.  He outlined a proposal to revamp the Universal Service Fund.

At the core of USF reform is the transformation of a program that was created to subsidize telephone lines in rural communities into a program that would fund the construction of broadband networks in communities that are currently without service.

Free Press Research Director S. Derek Turner made the following statement:

“The millions of Americans who pay the monthly tax to support the Universal Service Fund are eager to see the FCC bring long-overdue reforms to this vital subsidy program. Companies that take these public handouts must follow basic public service principles and should not be allowed to just pad their profits on the taxpayer’s dime.”

Recruiters are tapped into the changes in communication technologies and may wish to weigh in on the USF reform.  They have the unique position of using many different modes of communication to communicate with their diverse audiences.  They may be able to offer insight into which companies are vital for the betterment of communication in the United States.  Which groups should be subsidized and which are no longer relevant?