Pai Unveils Plan to Promote Broadband Deployment by Rate-of-Return Carriers

摘要

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai has unveiled a proposal designed to enhance deployment of broadband networks by small, rural carriers by tweaking existing rules to allow for universal service support of stand-alone broadband connections and creating a path for rate-of-return carriers to participate voluntarily in the Connect America Fund program. In a statement on his plan, which he announced at roundtable event in Omaha, Neb., June 30, Commissioner Pai said, "When it comes to broadband, rural residents have waited long enough. Four years ago, the FCC committed to reforming the Universal Service Fund to support broadband throughout rural America - a commitment that echoed the promise of the Communications Act itself to 'make available, so far as possible, to all the people of the United States ... a rapid, efficient, Nation-wide, and world-wide wire and radio communication service with adequate facilities at reasonable charges.'"