N.Y. residents would pay $150 million more into the Universal Ser...
N.Y. residents would pay $150 million more into the Universal Service Fund (USF) if the contributions system is changed as proposed, consumer groups said Tues. Contributions are made by telecom providers, which charge consumers for them. Plans to shift…
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from a revenue-based payment to a per-connection charge, such as one based on phone numbers, would boost N.Y.’s share from $407 million to $555 million, said the League of United Latin American Citizens, N.Y. State Alliance for Retired Americans and the Keep Universal Service Fund Fair Coalition. The connections- based proposal would “take a bad situation and make it even worse” because New Yorkers already pay more into the fund than they get back, the groups said in a press teleconference. Accusing “big phone companies” of pushing the connections system, the groups said the FCC shouldn’t move from “a consumer-friendly, pay-for-what-you-use tax on long-distance to a regressive per-connection charge that would be imposed on every phone line whether or not consumers made any long distance calls at all.”