National Broadband Plan will hurt rural America, 40 House members say

Such a capacity goal is not enough “for the next several years, let alone the future demands of commerce, education, energy, and public safety,” wrote the members, led by Reps. Betsy Markey (D-Colo.) and Sam Graves (R-Mo.).

The letter also criticizes the plan’s proposed changes to the Universal Service Fund, a pot of FCC cash that subsidizes telephone service in underserved areas. The plan seeks to transition this money to instead subsidize broadband infrastructure, adoption and service. Such a transition would “abandon a successful policy approach,” the letter says.

The National Broadband Plan’s proposed changes to the USF are backed by major Internet service providers such as AT&T but direly opposed by small, rural phone companies who currently benefit from the subsidy and who hold clout in the districts of several of the letter’s signatories. 

The FCC’s 360-page plan, released in March, seeks to boost the connectivity of at least 100 million U.S. homes to 100 Mbps by 2020 while ensuring that every American has access to high-speed Internet.