Today, heavy phone users subsidize light users, and urban users subsidize rural users. Never mind that the rural estates of northern Virginia are owned by some of the wealthiest people in the world. Never mind that the lowest telephone penetration rates are in low income urban areas. The urban poor of Richmond subsidize the riding stables of Middleburg. Nobody asks if the benefits of the current policies are received by those, and only those, who need them.
Competition can help.
If suppliers of phone service are allowed to compete for the subsidies, it would create the incentive to provide subsidies only to those with the greatest need. The incumbent local phone companies are fighting these changes. They'll try to show how competition will harm, rather than benefit, universal service. Never mind that competition usually results in more efficient, lower cost service to all customers. The FCC faces a challenge as it tries to promote both competition and universal service, both requirements of the new telecommunications law.