WASHINGTON, September 7, 2010 – The Federal Communications Commission late last week laid out part of its plan to reform the universal service fund, including pushing Sprint and Nextel to live up to their commitments to surrender their high-cost universal support over five years.

Join the cause to bring home the internet to mom and the kids on the farm. BIHT’M (Bring Internet Home to Mom) leads the fight to reconnect a mother with her property, relations and the world around her. The time for seclusion is over. Let the inundation of over-stimulation in the information age commence!

WASHINGTON, September 3, 2010 – The Federal Communications Commission has updated its latest report on Internet access service subscribership, revealing that only 44 percent of fixed communications connections to households met or exceeded the agency’s target speed for universal access.

SAN FRANCISCO, August 11, 2010 – One of the more unfortunate pop-cultural legacies of Ted Stevens as far as telecommunications policy is concerned is his 2006 comment that the internet is like “a series of tubes.”

WASHINGTON, August 9, 2010- Google and Verizon have announced a joint statement of principles on network neutrality and hosted a conference call Monday to outline their effort to the press. Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg announced that this new policy calls for an open and transparent wireline internet with special conditions given to the “burgeoning wireless market.”

WASHINGTON, August 4, 2010 –Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) attributed the aftermath of the Big Branch Explosion in West Virginia to “a troubling lack of communications facilities in our rural communities.” The cause of this void, Rockefeller argued, was the Federal Communications Commission’s model for reaching universal service.

WASHINGTON, July 29, 2010 –Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, speaking to the annual Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies (OPASTCO) convention in Seattle yesterday, told his audience that he agreed with bipartisan critics of the Universal Fund as being “broken.” “As the math of the overall Universal Service Fund gets worse each year, the importance of broadband to rural America gets greater,” Genachowski said. “There is a clear need to reform USF – not to end it, but to reorient USF to directly support broadband all over America. “

WASHINGTON July 22, 2010- Representative Rick Boucher (D-VA) Chairmen of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, and Lee Terry (R-NE) introduced a new bill to update the Universal Service Fund. This update will include broadband as a mandatory serve, modify the contribution requirements and add new accountability measures.

WASHINGTON, July 20, 2010 – The principal author of the National Broadband Plan has several suggestions on how to achieve universal first-class digital citizenship.

WASHINGTON, July 19, 2010- Three Federal Communications Commissioners Robert McDowell, Meredith Baker, and Mignon Clyburn encouraged use of the internet and new media applications to assist minorities and women entrepreneurs and connect them to financial resources.

WASHINGTON July 15, 2010 – With a tightening budget the United Kingdom government has decided to push back their universal service deadline by 3 years. Last year the nation had committed to bringing 2 Megabits per second to all citizens by 2012 but will now push the deadline to 2015. Tory Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt claimed that the plan which was developed by the Labour party was impractical giving budget constraints.

WASHINGTON July 15, 2010 – The American Cable Association has publicly endorsed the Federal Communications Commission’s plan for the creation of the Connect America Fund.

“Like the FCC, ACA is convinced that the time has come for the USF to focus on the infrastructure technology of the future: Broadband,” ACA President and CEO Matthew M. Polka said.

The National Broadband Plan calls for the creation of the Connect America Fund, and proceedings for the repurposing of the High Cost Fund began in March.

WASHINGTON, July 7, 2010 – Last week, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) released a budget projecting that $900 million in unused administrative costs would be extended to schools and libraries, pursuant to the FCC’s Universal Service Program. The unused funding comes from FCC budget surpluses in the years 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. The FCC will extend the funds irrespective of the annual cap, pursuant to Section 54.507(a)(2) of the Commission’s rules, which states states, in part, that “all funds that are collected and that are unused from prior years shall be available for use in the next full funding year of the schools and libraries mechanism in accordance with the public interest and notwithstanding the annual cap.”

WASHINGTON July 1, 2010- In an amendment to the Communications Market Act broadband access was added as a right for all citizens and business. The Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (FICORA) will ensure that all citizens have access to broadband connection with a minimum down speed of 1Mbps. This service will be provided via universal service requirements.

WASHINGTON, June 25, 2010 – Public libraries are key resources for job seekers, researchers and others thanks to their position in the community as an access point to the internet, says a new study from the American Library Association.