Da-Chief
07-14-2008, 08:23
http://i.dslr.net/urls/8/2708.gif (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Universal-Service-Fund-Still-Poorly-Managed-Money-Pit-96079)
Remember how for years I've noted that the Universal Service Fund (http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/tapd/universal_service/), a system you pay into monthly via your broadband and phone bills, was poorly regulated by the FCC -- to the point they never bothered to track where most of the money went? Well, other than VoIP customers now paying USF fees, nothing's changed. Despite the FCC claiming they'd look into it back in 2005 (http://www.corpsman.com/shownews/64625), a new report (http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08633.pdf) (pdf) by the GAO (via Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080714-gao-nobodys-minding-store-at-the-universal-service-fund.html)) notes that the system is still a money pit:But perhaps the most important conclusion of the GAO report is that nobody really audits the cost records of these telcos for, well, the truth. FCC and USF data collection efforts only audit a small percentage of telcos, and "generally focus on completeness and consistency of carriers' data submissions, but not the accuracy of the data." In many instances the cost and line count data isn't verified. "Inaccuracies in cost and line count data, which are not uncovered through review, could facilitate excessive program expenditures," GAO concludes.
So not only does the FCC not provide fund recipients with expected deployment goals, in most cases they don't even bother to independently check where the millions go. Yeah, what could go wrong?
read comment(s) (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Universal-Service-Fund-Still-Poorly-Managed-Money-Pit-96079)
More...
Remember how for years I've noted that the Universal Service Fund (http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/tapd/universal_service/), a system you pay into monthly via your broadband and phone bills, was poorly regulated by the FCC -- to the point they never bothered to track where most of the money went? Well, other than VoIP customers now paying USF fees, nothing's changed. Despite the FCC claiming they'd look into it back in 2005 (http://www.corpsman.com/shownews/64625), a new report (http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08633.pdf) (pdf) by the GAO (via Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080714-gao-nobodys-minding-store-at-the-universal-service-fund.html)) notes that the system is still a money pit:But perhaps the most important conclusion of the GAO report is that nobody really audits the cost records of these telcos for, well, the truth. FCC and USF data collection efforts only audit a small percentage of telcos, and "generally focus on completeness and consistency of carriers' data submissions, but not the accuracy of the data." In many instances the cost and line count data isn't verified. "Inaccuracies in cost and line count data, which are not uncovered through review, could facilitate excessive program expenditures," GAO concludes.
So not only does the FCC not provide fund recipients with expected deployment goals, in most cases they don't even bother to independently check where the millions go. Yeah, what could go wrong?
read comment(s) (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Universal-Service-Fund-Still-Poorly-Managed-Money-Pit-96079)
More...