Lowering Broadband Costs for Consumers Act of 2025
The Lowering Broadband Costs for Consumers Act of 2025 would require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reform how the Universal Service Fund (USF) is funded, expanding the pool of contributors beyond traditional telephone carriers to include broadband providers and a wide set of edge providers (such as search engines, social media platforms, streaming services, app stores, cloud services, messaging, videoconferencing, online gaming, and e-commerce). The goal is to ensure contributions are equitable and nondiscriminatory and to bolster the mechanisms that preserve and advance universal service while aiming to reduce the financial burden on consumers. The bill also creates a new, targeted mechanism within the high-cost component of USF to provide support to eligible broadband providers (ETCs) for expenses not recovered through end-user rates or other USF programs, with safeguards to limit duplication (no more than one ETC per area) and exemptions for small contributors. The FCC would have 18 months to begin a rulemaking to implement these changes, with ongoing revisions allowed to keep contributions fair as the market evolves. In short, the bill seeks to broaden who pays into USF, ensure those payments are fair across different types of providers, and use the new/adjusted funding to support broadband in high-cost areas while limiting potential burden on consumers and avoiding over-concentration of subsidies in any single provider.
Key Points
- 1Expands the USF contribution base to include broadband providers and edge providers, requiring equitable and nondiscriminatory contributions to universal service mechanisms. An initial rulemaking must be completed within 18 months of enactment to implement these changes.
- 2Establishes ongoing FCC rulemaking flexibility to revise the contribution rules over time, ensuring that broadband and edge providers continue to contribute fairly as technology and markets evolve.
- 3Creates exemptions from the new contributions for edge providers and broadband providers that are either small in footprint (transmitting less than 3% of US broadband data and with US revenue under $5 billion in the most recent year) or where contributions would be de minimis. This aims to avoid imposing burdens on the smallest players.
- 4Directs the FCC to adopt a new high-cost USF mechanism to provide specific, predictable, and sufficient support to eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) for broadband expenses not recovered through end-user rates or other USF programs, with a cap of no more than one ETC receiving support per area.
- 5Grants the FCC enforcement authority to implement and enforce these provisions, with penalties and immunities aligned with the Communications Act of 1934, and clarifies that the bill does not introduce new authority over broadband providers beyond what is described, nor over edge providers outside the specified scope.