The Universal Service Fund grew to $7 billion in 2008, said the F...
The Universal Service Fund grew to $7 billion in 2008, said the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service in its annual monitoring report. High-cost support grew $200 million year-over-year to $4.5 billion, with competitive eligible telecommunications carriers (CETC) responsible…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
for the increase. CETCs received $1.4 billion in high-cost support in 2008, up from $1.2 billion the year before. An interim cap on CETC support took effect in August 2008. Rural health care support also expanded year-over-year to $49 million in 2008. E-rate held steady at about $1.8 billion, while low-income support fell to $819 million in 2008 from $823 million the year before. The telecom industry saw $235 billion in 2008 revenue from end users. Fixed local service provider revenue increased $3 billion year-over-year to $78 billion, while wireless revenue jumped $2 billion to $118 billion. Toll service revenue fell $10 billion to $39 billion. The price index of overall telephone rates jumped 2.9 percent in 2008, compared to a general inflation rate of 0.1 percent for all goods and services. Interstate toll usage for incumbent local exchange carrier customers dropped 33 billion minutes year-over-year to 316 billion in 2008.