Who Pays for Universal Service? When Telephone Subsidies Become Transparent

by Unknown

• ISBN13: 9780815716129
• ISBN10: 0815716125
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-06-01
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Summary

The authors show that the widely-defended practice known as " universal service" forces its intended beneficialries poor and rural households to pay far more for telephone service than they would if prices reflected the true cost of service.

Author Biography

Leonard Waverman is a visiting professor at the London Business School.

Table of Contents

Universal Service and Telecommunications Policy	1	(22)
Telephone Service versus Other Household Services	23	(22)
Who Pays for Telephone Service?	45	(24)
``Universal'' Service in Other Regulated Sectors in the United States	69	(20)
Household Demand: Monthly Rates and ``Universal Service''	89	(16)
Costs and Benefits of Traditional Universal Service Policies	105	(24)
The 1996 U.S. Telecommunication Act and Traditional Universal Service	129	(12)
The New (New) Universal Service	141	(24)
The Need for a More Focused Policy	165	(8)
Notes	173	(22)
Index	195