Beginning January 1, 2008, the universal service fund fee that California consumers see on their telephone bills (called California High-Cost Fund-B) will be reduced from 1.3 percent to 0.5 percent, the California Public Utilities Commission announced late last week.
Meanwhile, SureWest Communications, one of the beneficiaries of such funding, said the PUC had accepted its proposal to gradually reduce its draw from the fund. There was also a proposal on the table to eliminate the fund entirely. USF change continues to be a controversial topic at the national level, but these moves show that change is indeed afoot.
For more on the USF:
- here's the CPUC's release on the USF reduction
- and more on SureWest's accepted proposal