NTCA, the Rural Broadband Association, was pleased that the Supreme Court announced it would review a decision from the Fifth Circuit Appeals Court regarding the federal Universal Service Fund. Specifically, the nation’s highest court will look into the constitutionality of the mechanism for contributions to the Universal Service Fund.
“The Fifth Circuit Court’s decision is contrary to Supreme Court precedent and the decision of several other appeals courts, and it threatens to undermine valuable universal service programs,” the NCTA says. “For many decades, those programs have served to promote the availability and affordability of critical communications service for millions of rural and low-income consumers, rural health care facilities, and schools across the nation.”
The association will present arguments in defense of the USF contribution mechanism as the case moves forward and ultimately dispels the uncertainty that these challenges have created in furthering the nation’s mission of universal service.
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