AT&T is calling on the seven major tech companies that are currently the most profitable, including Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla, to assist in subsidizing Internet and telephone access for individuals across the United States.
During a telecom forum on Monday, AT&T CEO John Stankey emphasized that it is important for these tech giants to contribute to the Universal Service Fund (USF), a federal program that allocates approximately $8 billion each year towards phone, Internet, and other telecommunication services.
The USF specifically aids lower-income households, individuals residing in rural areas, and those in high-cost regions, while also supporting eligible schools and libraries by providing internet and phone services.
“The seven biggest and most profitable companies in the world have built their empires on the internet infrastructure we provide,” Stankey remarked, according to a report from Reuters.
He further stated, “Why shouldn’t they contribute to ensuring fair and affordable access to essential services of today, which have become as crucial as the phone lines of the past?”
John Stankey, AT&T CEO. Credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Being a telecommunications company operating in the U.S., AT&T is mandated to contribute to the USF. This contribution is based on a percentage of AT&T’s revenues, starting at 15.5%.
AT&T imposes a Universal Connectivity Charge on its customers, calculated based on the USF percentage. Therefore, customers end up paying an additional fee that goes towards funding the USF.
“In the competitive industry we are part of, we cannot absorb the costs associated with the USF that have been imposed on AT&T,” a company statement explained.
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Stankey is not alone in highlighting the USF fee. AT&T’s executive vice president of federal regulatory relations, Rhonda Johnson, recently stated that the company’s USF contribution percentage has now reached 34.4% and has remained above 30% for the past four quarters.
Johnson suggested that Congress should broaden the funding sources for the USF to include tech companies such as Meta and Google, which benefit from consumer broadband connections.
These tech behemoths have reaped significant profits from Americans being online and should, therefore, contribute to a reformed fund, according to Johnson.
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