[Text Version]

Beneficiary and Service Provider Participation

Since 1998, over $6 billion in funding commitments have been issued through the four universal ser-vice support mechanisms. This translates into direct benefits from the USF to literally thousands of high cost regions, low-income consumers, health care facilities, as well as schools and libraries throughout the United States. On an individual basis it is difficult to imagine how many people have been and will be affected by this support. Millions of Americans living in rural communities continue to be connected. Five million low-income customers have access to telephone services, many of them for the first time. Countless patients of rural medical facilities will benefit from the advanced technologies of telemedicine afforded health care organizations that previously lacked vital resources. Public libraries, which by definition are open to everyone, are using these funds to expand library holdings to an almost infinite vol- ume without knocking down a wall, or building an addition.

The ongoing task of locating and identifying eligible participants for the Low Income Program remains a high priority. Data characterizing various demographic regions of America is available from a variety of sources, and upon inspection, it does not take long to recognize which areas of the country, whether they be inner-city or rural, should be targeted for outreach. With the help of telecommunications associations and service providers, USAC's outreach team has successfully given multiple seminars to industry participants.

Outreach for the High Cost and the Rural Health Care Programs has included an ongoing campaign of teleconferences and in-person seminars targeted at spreading the message to the more rural and isolated regions of America. Service providers have been, and continue to be, active participants in reaching potential beneficiearies. The development of vital communications tools such as brochures, media kits, and web sites have made this endeavor cost effective and successful for each of the USF programs. For services delivered during Year One of the Rural Health Care Program, nearly 300 health care providers in 39 states will receive supported services. (Please see the section on Benefits to Americans for detailed information on who has been served)

In 1998, the outreach team for the Schools and Libraries Program visited 49 states in order to explain the program and to instruct potential applicants and service providers on how to comply with program rules. The outreach campaign was consolidated in 1999 and the result was tremendous. Via live telecast from nine seminars in regions throughout the United States, the outreach team was able to instruct between 70 and 350 E-rate coordinators per event, representing every state and territory in the nation, and reaching applicants and service providers alike. These efforts were the foundation for a significant increase in program participation.

The impact of the E-rate is becoming evident, both qualitatively and quantitatively. On March 2, 2000, for example, the Benton Foundation released a report evaluating the impact of the first two years of the program in four communities. The report observed that through the E-rate, "Network infrastructure deployment accelerated, and Internet access improved dramatically." It also noted, "E-rate funding has enabled school districts to leverage existing financial resources."

The Department of Education recently released new statistics on the availability of the Internet in public school classrooms. In 1998, just over half of public school classrooms had Internet access; in 1999, the percentage had increased to 63. Data supplied to USAC from Schools and Libraries Program applicants makes evident that libraries and schools are indeed expanding connectivity in their facilities in large part due to the E-rate.

A technology coordinator for a rural county in a southern state has reported that the E-rate helped the county upgrade slow 56K connections to high-speed T-1 lines. As a result, students in a high school in the county are completing a study of the stock market. The students selected their stock, pretended to buy and sell, watched the daily reports using the Internet and kept a computerized journal of their earnings. With the T-1 lines, all the students could check at any given time without waiting. The "ticker tape" ran all the time on every computer in the buildings. T-1 access at the county library means students no longer have to be transported to colleges to conduct research. None of this would have been possible without E-rate, reports the technology coordinator.

That is just one local story, but it is being repeated around the country. E-rate funds will mean an estimated 50 percent increase in classrooms connected in Catholic schools and an estimated 31 percent increase in other private schools. The number of direct connections in libraries will increase 48 percent after two years of E-rate funding.

Service provider participation continues to be positive and competitive. Currently, there are over twenty-one thousand service provider identification numbers (SPINs - the nine digit number assigned to service providers participating in the Universal Service Program), equating to more than sixty-five hundred service providers that actively participate in the universal service support mechanisms. These service providers include local and interstate telecommunications companies, Internet service providers (ISPs) and various internal connections contractors.

Table of Contents

Previous

Next