The Federal Communications Commission voted December 16 to reduce by 38% the amount that long-distance companies will pay towards universal service discounts for libraries and schools for the first six months of 1998.
Under the revised plan, which affects collection but not disbursement, $625 million would be collected in the first half of the year. The original cap of $2.25 billion for the year would remain in place.
Additionally, AT&T and MCI recently indicated that they plan to place a specific line-item charge on customers’ long distance bills to cover their universal service costs, which ALA’s Washington Office sees as an indication of their intentions to pass on the alleged increased costs of universal service to customers.
Posted December 22, 1997.