The FCC botched the startup of this initiative so badly even some of its staunchest supporters have been forced to blush. Unfortunately, a genuinely noble idea has been reduced to a political football. Efforts to kill the program are dead wrong, but saving it requires strong leadership. It is time to right-size the program and refocus its energy on the worthy goal of ensuring that children and adults who do not already have access to the information superhighway get it. Local high schools with dozens of computers hooked up to the Internet should not get subsidies as long as there are schools without any computers hooked up.
Leadership requires making choices and setting priorities.
The promise of an advanced telecommunications network that will be the next century's highway of commerce and ideas stands before us. However, much more must be done to preserve universal service. As policy makers walk the tricky path ahead, consumers want this visionary program to be funded without putting line items on their bills that cause overall rate increases. Telecommunications service providers are benefiting handsomely from deregulation of the industry, and the law clearly requires those reaping these benefits to reduce prices equal to or greater than the contributions they make to preserve universal service for all Americans. To preserve and expand universal service, the FCC must squeeze the fat out of long distance access pricing.