Washington DC – Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and Consumer Action filed comments in response to a request from the Congressional Universal Service Fund Working Group. Dr. Mark Cooper, Senior Fellow at CFA and author of the comments stated the following:

• Broadband access and use are immensely important to individual households and the U.S. economy.
• The FCC and the U.S. have made significant progress toward the goal of universal service as it pertains to broadband.
• However, there remains a significant, even remarkable, shortfall in achieving universal service as we came to define it in the pre-broadband era.
• The FCC has programs in place to achieve the goal, but the challenges remain substantial.
• Thus, above all, U.S. policy should not consider shrinking or abandoning the universal service programs; those programs should be expanded and improved.