Ayotte Reintroduces Bill to Reform Communications Program that Shortchanges New Hampshire

Statement

U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) announced today that she has recently reintroduced legislation to reform the Universal Service Fund (USF), a program intended to promote access to telecommunications services in the United States. Currently, USF returns only 37 cents for every dollar that New Hampshire contributes to the fund. Despite being a net "donor" of over $25 million to the USF each year, New Hampshire continues to have significant pockets that lack access to crucial communications services - including broadband technology. The USF Equitable Distribution Act (S. 734) would ensure that a rural state is guaranteed to receive at least 75 cents for every dollar it contributes to USF.

"In too many parts of New Hampshire, reliable broadband access can be hard to come by, making it more difficult for rural businesses to compete in a the global marketplace. It is critical that rural communities be able to take advantage of the economic and educational benefits of high-speed Internet access in our increasingly digital world." said Senator Ayotte, a member of the Commerce Committee.

She continued: "A portion of Granite Staters' telephone bills goes to the Universal Service Fund, and there's no reason why we should be shortchanged by a program that's supposed to help deploy critical communications services to every area of the state. The legislation I reintroduced would reform the Universal Service Fund to ensure that more of the money New Hampshire citizens contribute to the fund is invested in our state instead of subsidizing other states."

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