by Peter Pitsch

About the author: Peter Pitsch is the president of Pitsch Communications, a telecommunications consulting firm. He is an adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., and a former research director of the Federal Communications Commission.

Author’s note: Although the Telecommunications Act of 1996 differs in important regards from the Markey-Fields bill referenced in this viewpoint, it requires the Federal Communications Commission to address the issues surrounding the definition and reform of universal service that are analyzed below.

Members of Congress and the Clinton administration are seeking to mandate subsidized access to the much ballyhooed information superhighway. Just what this new infrastructure would look like is not clear. Nevertheless, legislation sponsored by Reps. Edward Markey (D., Mass.) and Jack Fields (R., Texas) seeks to expand universal service...