Universal service, a federal policy that guarantees affordable telecommunications access for every corner of the country, has been disastrous for the interests of consumers, telephone carriers, and industry innovators.

Due to political pressures, short-sighted universal service rules have saddled local carriers with wasteful subsidies and deterred new entrants with economic disincentives, denying needy communities the greater benefits of a competitive marketplace.

Telecom companies have also taken a hit, as system administrators have recklessly redistributed industry revenue to pay for the thousands of corporate subsidies and millions of service discounts they approve. These unaccountable bureaucrats have quietly rubber-stamped a massive increase in program disbursements, allowing special interest groups to raid more than $48 billion in industry profits. A lack of adequate oversight over the universal service system has also generated endless cases of fraud and abuse, as ravenous recipients have exploited the fund for financial profit and personal gain.