When the NTCA board sat down to plot out the strategic priorities for NTCA and our membership in the summer of 2024, the guiding principle for those 12 volunteer leaders in the room was that the Universal Service Fund (USF), and all that it means to our member companies, the networks they have built and the customers they serve, was their North Star. Meaning that our association’s focus and priorities were based around the guiding principle that all Americans, regardless of where they lived, should have access to comparable and affordable broadband services and that NTCA would embed those principles into all that we do as an industry association representing community-based providers across the country.
That same sense of priorities was behind the active engagement at NTCA, with the incredible support from this Board, which ensured that the association had the resources needed to defend the USF over several years of court challenges, and was top of mind today, as we awaited the critical decision before our nation’s highest court. Having spent the past few weeks sitting in front of the SCOTUSblog live blog as opinions were released from the Supreme Court prior to adjournment in July and feeling knots in my stomach, I know that I shared the same joy and relief that thousands of you actively engaged in the rural broadband industry felt when the Supreme Court overturned a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit which found that the Universal Service Fund contribution mechanism was unconstitutional. The 6-3 decision affirmed the legality of the USF, finding that neither Congress’s delegation of power to the FCC nor the FCC’s delegation of power to the Universal Service Administrative Co. violates a theory known as the nondelegation doctrine.
That victory today felt very personal to all of us here, as NTCA played a key role as a petitioner to the Supreme Court, reviewing the lower court’s decision declaring the USF contribution mechanism unconstitutional. While filing that petition felt like a leap of faith that good governance and the Constitution would prevail, with the North Star mantra behind us, we had no recourse but to go fully to the mat defending the immediate survival of this program with hopes we could then pivot our time, attention and resources on working with Congress and the FCC on further USF reforms to set up the program for success into the future.
Even going into this court case, our team all had whiteboards, Venn diagrams and flow charts of the many ways we would play out next steps in the battle for the future of USF; from the courts, to Congress, to the FCC, to stakeholders and the “court” of public opinion. We were ready for any direction we needed to head and had game plans for each. How lucky were we to have so many engaged staff, board members, committees and members ready to pivot and take up the fight where and when needed, including our own USF Strike Force, who did a fabulous job of taking the lead in getting key members of Congress onboard an amicus brief to the Supreme Court on this case. And thank you to our friends at CoBank and NCSC for their work getting folks in the lending, agriculture, education and healthcare communities to also submit a supportive amicus brief. It took a village.
And it will take a village going forward. There is still much to be done to secure the future of USF contribution reform and to ensure that all Americans have access to #BroadbandBuiltToLast, but today was a good start. With this ruling in place, we look forward to refocusing now on critical universal service reform efforts, including spreading contribution obligations more equitably among all who use and benefit from cutting-edge communications networks. We certainly look forward to working with all of you as we continue our work with Congress and the FCC to achieve these essential reforms and sustain these critical programs.