INCOMPAS, whose members include Amazon, Facebook, Google, Netflix and Twitter, is telling the FCC to expand the contribution base of Universal Service Fund broadband subsidies from telecoms to ISPs, but that no way should it make edge providers pay into the fund.
The FCC sought comment on what, if any, changes it should make to the Universal Service Fund, which is currently supported by fees on phone service, even while it has been transitioned to focus on broadband service as the nation's new baseline communications service.
In its filing, the Internet Innovation Alliance points out that USF "draws from a pool of landline phone service revenues, which shrunk from $72.3 billion in 2010 to $47.5 billion in 2019."
Some have suggested that big, bandwidth-intensive edge providers -- like Amazon, Facebook, Google, Netflix and Twitter -- should also be hit up for money to help close the digital divide.
Also: Could the FCC Make Video Streamers Pay Into the Universal Service Fund?
But in its filing, INCOMPAS counted the ways that making edge providers pay was a bad idea, including arguing they already contribute in other ways.
1: "The FCC does not have authority to require edge providers to
contribute to USF." IMCOMPAS says that the USF fund is in a "crisis," -- a declining base of phone customers, whose fees feed the fund, as broadband customers, on whom no fee is levied, explode, so the FCC should focus on solutions it has authority to impose -- fees on broadband service for one thing." The FCC...does not have the authority to require edge providers to contribute to USF and would need congressional action to do so," it told the FCC.
2: INCOMPAS says edge providers are not receiving a "free ride" from USF. "In reality, every business that is using a USF-assessed service contributes to the USF, including edge providers," it says. "For example, companies using interconnected VoIP in their business operations are contributors to the USF just like any other subscriber." And besides, it says, it is all those online content services that drive demand for broadband service and thus benefits ISPs and their subs.
"Indeed, it is the edge providers’ products that are contributing to the demand for BIAS services and the incentive to build more BIAS networks that are faster and more robust," INCOMPAS said. "This investment is far from a “free ride.” To stretch the metaphor further, what good is there in building a rollercoaster if there is no one bringing in the customers to ride it?" ■
