What is the Universal Service Fund Fee (USF)?
The Universal Service Fund (USF) helps provide affordable telecommunications services for low-income customers and customers in rural areas. It also provides discounts on Internet access for eligible schools, libraries and rural health care providers. The USF is collected from telecommunications carriers and administered by the Universal Service Administration Corporation. They are responsible for disbursing the funds according to eligibility criteria established by the FCC. In May of 1997, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules that mandated that telecommunications carriers pay into a federal program called the Universal Service Fund (USF). Startec and other telecommunications carriers are required by the FCC, to pay a percentage of their revenues for state-to-state and international services into the Universal Service Fund. The FCC sets this percentage on a quarterly basis. In the competitive industry we are in, we cannot afford to absorb the costs associated with
The Universal Service Fund (USF) helps provide affordable telecommunications services for low-income customers and customers in rural areas. It also provides discounts on Internet access for eligible schools, libraries and rural health care providers. The USF is collected from telecommunications carriers and administered by the Universal Service Administration Corporation. They are responsible for disbursing the funds according to eligibility criteria established by the FCC. In May of 1997, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules that mandated that telecommunications carriers pay into a federal program called the Universal Service Fund (USF). Startec and other telecommunications carriers are required by the FCC, to pay a percentage of their revenues for state-to-state and international services into the Universal Service Fund. The FCC sets this percentage on a quarterly basis. In the competitive industry we are in, we cannot afford to absorb the costs associated with
