Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service; Access Charge Reform

The document Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Services; Access Charge Reform establishes the framework for a new forward- looking high-cost universal service support mechanism. The new mechanism will have a two-part methodology that considers both the relative costs of providing supported services and the states' ability to support those costs using their own resources. In taking these steps, we are moving closer to bringing to fruition the work of the Joint Board and this Commission to render universal service support mechanisms explicit, sufficient, and sustainable as local competition develops. The federal support mechanism would provide support for costs that exceed both the national benchmark and the individual state's resources to support those costs.