Fund Administration
About Fund Administration:
- Fund Adminstration Overview
- How the Universal Service Fund Works
- Purpose of the Universal Service Fund
- Understanding Audits
Fund Administration Tools:
Overview
Information for recipients of the Universal Service Fund.
Although consumers benefit from the Universal Service Fund (USF), only companies that provide telecommunications and other services are eligible to receive USF support. This support defrays the cost of delivering discounted service to consumers.
All common carriers, as defined by the FCC, may provide approved services through the USF. If you have questions concerning the eligibility of a particular carrier, please contact USAC's Customer Service Support Center at 1-888-641-8722.
The four programs of the federal Universal Service Fund are:
- High Cost - This support ensures that consumers in all regions of the Nation have access to and pay rates for telecommunications services that are reasonably comparable to those in urban areas. This support typically goes to telecommunications providers.
- Low Income - This support, commonly known as Lifeline and Link Up, provides discounts that make basic, local telephone service affordable for more than 7 million Americans. This support typically goes to telecommunications providers, which provides a discount to the consumer.
- Rural Health Care - This support provides reduced rates to rural health care providers for telecommunications and Internet services so they pay no more than their urban counterparts for the same or similar telecommunication services. This support goes to service providers that provide discounts on eligible services to eligible rural health care providers.
- Schools & Libraries - This support provides affordable telecommunications and Internet access services (known as Priority One services) to connect classrooms and libraries to the Internet. Schools and Libraries support also provides for Internal Connections and Basic Maintenance of Internal Connections (known as Priority Two services) after all Priority One commitments have been made. This support goes to service providers that provide discounts on eligible services to eligible schools, school districts, libraries, and consortia of these entities.
