- Great broadband technological gains, but pays nothing to support the networks on which they depend
- This bill will make technology companies finally contribute to the networks they use to build empires of one billion dollars
- The legislation changes the burden of broadband costs of everyday users to business giants
A new wave of broadband reform is gaining ground in the United States, and is ready to remodel how Internet access is financed, particularly for unattended rural communities.
In the heart of this effort is the reintroduction of the The Broadband Cost Law for Consumers of 2025 For the United States Congress. It is a bipartisan proposal aimed at fixing a long -standing financing imbalance.
Currently, many technological giants that depend largely on broadband infrastructure do not contribute to their financing. The law would ensure that they do it, helping to expand the Universal Service Fund (USF).
A bipartisan impulse to set broadband financing
Originally designed to guarantee universal access to telephone services, the USF has since evolved to support broadband in rural and tribal areas.
However, its financing still comes mainly from voice service subscribers, which now pay much more than they did two decades ago.
For example, a user can buy a mobile router and pay broadband access simply to use social networks. The user can also pay these platforms directly through subscriptions or purchases in the application. However, despite fully trusting broadband infrastructure, platforms themselves do not contribute to their cost.
This imbalance is at the center of a legal challenge currently pending before the Supreme Court of the United States.
The new proposal aims to change the cost load of everyday consumers to large technological companies, such as Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, Meta and Tiktok, whose services boost broadband traffic, including which through the Wi -Fi rings.
This is not a completely new idea. It reflects that the model technology companies that already use to sell cloud services: payment based on use and characteristics. Since contributions would come from business services such as cloud computing, digital advertising and AI infrastructure, there would be no additional cost for consumers.
If it is implemented, the policy would eliminate the USF rate of the phone invoices, offering direct relief to users. It could pave the way for the best broadband agreement in years by reducing surcharges.
Through Strandconsult
