What is universal service, and what does it mean to Chesnee Communications customers?
A. In 1934, the nation made a commitment to ensure that telephone service would be available to as many Americans as possible—rich or poor, rural or urban—when Congress passed the original Communications Act, creating the concept of universal service. Guided by this principle, the U.S. promoted the development and reach of the national telephone network by distributing costs across groups of services and users in order to connect all segments of the American public. Universal service recognizes the economic reality that the costs of providing telephone service to all parts of the country vary widely, but that the nation as a whole benefits from a network that connects as many Americans as possible. While it may be difficult to define, universal service can be looked on as a system by which everyone benefits from the fact that everyone else has a telephone. Thanks to universal service, independent companies in high-cost rural areas have been assured of appropriate recognition of their b
