Immigrate to the United States focuses on life in U.S. immigration: The United States is the birthplace of universal service. Universal service has held an important place since the Telecommunications Act of 1934. The first section of the first article of the Telecommunications Act of 1934 clearly states that telecommunications operators must provide rapid and efficient wired and wireless communication services to all citizens of the United States with adequate facilities and reasonable rates, to the greatest extent possible. Subsequently, universal service was redefined: "Anyone can enjoy telecommunications services at an affordable price, regardless of location, and the quality of service and pricing standards are the same for all." Since then, universal service policies have promoted the widespread use of telephone services. Today, the FCC recognizes that high-speed internet is the foundational communication technology of the 21st century, and thus, while continuing to promote the proliferation of telephone services, it has also begun to promote the spread of broadband.
In 1976, the Consumer Communications Reform Act published in the United States stipulated that to achieve the goal of universal service, a unified telephone network has always been and continues to be fundamental. The law stipulates that telecommunications operators implement internal cross-subsidies, meaning that long-distance departments pay access fees to local telephone companies, and local telephone companies use this money to fund universal service.
The new telecommunications law of 1996 expanded the previous goals of universal service, continuing to provide telecommunications access to all consumers at reasonable and affordable rates, while also incorporating advanced services such as high-speed internet. The principles of universal service established by the new telecommunications law particularly focus on providing advanced services to consumers in rural and island areas, as well as low-income consumers. Additionally, the new principles call for providing high-speed internet connections to schools, libraries, and rural healthcare institutions nationwide. The installation costs, call fee subsidies, cross-subsidies, and public utility loan subsidies for schools, libraries, and rural healthcare are included, along with price reductions and monetary support for high-cost and rural areas.FCC established four universal service fund projects for this purpose:
1. The "Connect America" plan for rural areas.
2. The "Lifeline" plan for low-income consumers.
3. The E-rate plan for schools and libraries. Providing telecommunications services and internet access to schools and libraries nationwide.
4. The Rural Health Care plan for rural healthcare institutions.
The universal service fund is proportionally collected from the end-user revenues of telecommunications service providers. Participating companies include telecommunications operators (including both wireline and wireless operators), VoIP service providers (including cable companies that provide voice services), and FCC has established a dedicated universal service fund management company (USAC) to manage the implementation of the above four projects and collect the universal service fund, compensating telecommunications companies that provide universal service.
In February 2011, FCC passed a proposal to improve the universal service fund (USF), which suggested broadening the responsibilities of the universal service fund to include the promotion of broadband services.