Re: $6 billion in subsidies?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: John Levine [johnl () iecc com]
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2008 10:28 AM
To: David Farber
Cc: Dewayne Hendricks
Subject: Re: [IP] $6 billion in subsidies?

> I would like to learn more about this $6 billion number. What does it
> represent, exactly? Please point me to the source of the figure
> quoted by the Chairman.

I presume he's talking about the Universal Service Fund, which disbursed
closer to $7 billion in 2007.  For details see
http://universalservice.org/about/universal-service/fund-facts/fund-facts.aspx

I see explicit USF charges of 1.09 cents/mo on my AT&T cell bill and
73 cents on my ILEC bill.

There's plenty not to like about USF but I don't purport to have any
great ideas about how to fix it.  On the other hand, speaking as a
customer of a small family owned rural ILEC thank drinks deeply from
the USF well, I'd like to offer my thanks to all you city folks for
the high quality service for which I pay $16.45/mo.

R's,
John



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