Rural broadband executives told lawmakers Wednesday that Congress must modernize the Universal Service Fund to keep small town networks affordable and sustainable.
“USF doesn’t just cover network construction, but also ongoing operations, maintenance, and upgrades,” said witness Karen Jackson-Furman, CEO of West Kentucky and Tennessee Telecommunications Cooperative. For a rural co-op like WK&T, she added, the program was often “the difference between operating and not operating.”
Her testimony came during a hearing of the House Committee on Small Business centered on how expanding broadband may revitalize rural, small businesses. Lawmakers and witnesses also discussed permitting delays, flawed federal mapping, and the Trump administration’s changes to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program that removed its emphasis on fiber technology.
Blandin on Broadband
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