What is The Universal Service Fund Fee?
The Universal Service Fund (USF) is a FCC program designed to ensure the availability of affordable telecommunications services to schools, libraries and rural healthcare facilities; it also serves to subsidize local service in high-cost areas and low-income households. In June 2006, the FCC required VoIP providers to contribute to the USF. For additional information on the USF, please visit www.fcc.
The Telecom Act of 1996 has mandated that all telecommunications carriers that provide interstate telecommunications services, providers of interstate telecommunications, and payphone service providers contribute to the federal universal support mechanisms. The money raised will be used to wire schools, libraries, and rural health-care centers for telecommunications. For complete information on how this fee impacts SkyTel customers, see the document on this site.
