Opinion ID: 894901
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Universal Service

Text: Universal servicethat is, adequate and efficient telecommunications service available to all citizens at just, fair, and reasonable rateshas long been a policy objective of our state and national governments. TEX. UTIL.CODE § 52.001(a); see also 47 U.S.C. § 151 (2000); AT & T Commc'ns of Tex., L.P. v. Sw. Bell Tel. Co., 186 S.W.3d 517, 521-22 n. 18 (Tex. 2006). Achieving this goal requires subsidization of rural and residential service that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive. AT & T, 186 S.W.3d at 521. In the past, switched access ratesrates paid by long-distance carriers to local carriers so that long-distance customers could access local networkswere used to subsidize universal service. Pub. Util. Comm'n of Tex., Scope of Competition in Telecommunications Markets of Texas at 82 (Jan. 1999). These rates were priced higher than their cost, in part so that local carriers could recoup the expense of providing service in high-cost rural areas of the state. Id. B