USF proposal to ignore VoIP?

We've written before about the Universal Service Fund and how it relates to VoIP service. Now it appears that the phone industry wants to change the way the fund is administered, but they don't appear to have given VoIP a whole lot of thought. The USF By The Numbers coalition launched today, counting among its members AT&T, BellSouth, Verizon, CTIA, IDT and NCTA. At a teleconference that I listened in on, they said they want to change the current system of funding the USF according to traffic by funding it on a per phone number basis. They say the by-the-numbers approach is more economically efficient; it is certainly easier for the telcos to administer a per-number fee and charge it back to customers. And after 10 years of USF, it's reasonable to look again at how the fund is structured. But the coalition appears not to have thought about number-less VoIP systems, and punts the question of how to charge for large company trunks back to the FCC. More on this, we're sure, to come.

For more information about the Universal Service Fund:
- check out this release from CTIA explaining why they joined the coalition