Subsidized Phone Service

The federal government spends more than $4 billion a year to subsidize phone service in rural areas. Now it is considering ways to give those areas high-speed Internet access. The Federal Communications Commission is set to vote tomorrow on details for a plan that would transform the Universal Service Fund to pay for broadband. That fund was originally set up to ensure that all Americans have access to a basic telephone line. But FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski says that the Internet is fast replacing the telephone as today's essential communications service. New FCC rules could also mean cable companies would begin collecting from the program.