Universal Service Monitoring Report CC Docket No. 96-45 WC Docket No. 02-6 WC Docket No. 02-60 WC Docket No. 06-122 WC Docket No. 10-90 WC Docket No. 11-42 WC Docket No. 13-184 WC Docket No. 14-58 2020 (Data Received Through September 2020) Prepared by Federal and State Staff for the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service This report is available for reference in the FCC's Reference Information Center, Courtyard Level, 45 L Street, NE, Washington, DC 20554. Copies may be purchased by contacting Best Copy and Printing, Inc., 45 L Street, NE, Washington, DC 20554, telephone (800) 378-3160, or via their website at www.bcpiweb.com. The report can also be downloaded from the FCC s Federal-State Joint Board Monitoring Reports website at http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/federal-state-joint-board-monitoring-reports. Table of Contents Introduction and Summary ............................................................................................................................................ 5 2020 Monitoring Report Supplementary Material .................................................................................................... 7 Section 1  Revenues and Contributions ....................................................................................................................... 8 Section 2  Lifeline (Low Income) .............................................................................................................................. 27 Section 3  Connect America Fund (High Cost) Program ........................................................................................... 38 Section 4  E-Rate (Schools and Libraries) ................................................................................................................. 47 Section 5  Rural Health Care ..................................................................................................................................... 51 Section 6  Subscribership (Voice and Internet) ......................................................................................................... 54 Section 7  Price Indices ............................................................................................................................................. 75 Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 2 2020 Monitoring Report Report Tables Table 1.1  Filer Revenues by Service Type: 2010  2019 ..................................................................................... 9 Table 1.2  Filer Revenues,1 Wholesale vs. Retail: 2010  2019 .......................................................................... 11 Table 1.3  2019 Filer Revenues by Service Type: Top 10 Affiliated Entities vs. Other Companies ................... 13 Table 1.4  Telecommunications Revenue Reported on FCC Form 499-Q: 2018  2020 .................................... 15 Table 1.5  USF Contribution Base by Year1: 2010  2019 .................................................................................. 17 Table 1.6  Universal Service Fund Contribution Factor1 ..................................................................................... 19 Table 1.7  Billed Interstate and International Retail Communications Revenues by Top 10 Affiliated Entities vs. Other Companies: 2010  First Half 20201 ............................................................................................. 20 Table 1.8  End User Telecommunications Revenue by State: 2018 .................................................................... 21 Table 1.9  Universal Service Support Mechanisms by State: 2019 ..................................................................... 22 Table 1.10  Universal Service Disbursements 2001  2019 ................................................................................ 24 Table 1.11  Universal Service Program Requirements and Contribution Factors for 2020 ................................. 25 Table 2.1  Lifeline Subscribers and Link up Beneficiaries .................................................................................. 28 Table 2.2  Low Income Claims ............................................................................................................................ 29 Table 2.3  Low Income Claims by State: 2019 .................................................................................................... 30 Table 2.4 - Low-Income Claims Received by ILECs and Competitive ETCs....................................................... 32 Table 2.5  Low-Income Claims by Program and by Affiliated Entities: 2019 .................................................... 33 Table 2.6  Total Monthly Lifeline Subscribers Since January 2015 .................................................................... 34 Table 2.7  Lifeline De-Enrollments or Scheduled De-Enrollments Recertification by State in 2019 ................. 35 Table 2.8  Low-Income Subscribers by State in 2019 by Facilities Type of Carrier ........................................... 36 Table 2.9  Lifeline Subscribers by Type of Service: March 2020 ....................................................................... 37 Table 3.1  High-Cost Support Fund Claim History ............................................................................................. 40 Table 3.2  High-Cost Support Fund Claim History  Rate of Return .................................................................. 41 Table 3.3  High-Cost Support Fund Claim History  Price Cap .......................................................................... 42 Table 3.4  High-Cost Support Fund Claim History  Competitive Eligible Telecommunications Carriers ........ 43 Table 3.5  High-Cost Support Fund Claims  States: 2019 ................................................................................. 44 Table 3.6  Annual High-Cost Fund Support Claims  Affiliates: 2016  2019 ................................................... 45 Table 3.7  High-Cost Support Fund Claims  Affiliates: 2019 ............................................................................ 46 Table 4.1  Schools and Libraries Funding Commitments and Disbursements by Applicant Type and Year ...... 48 Table 4.2  Schools and Libraries Funding Commitments and Disbursements from Program Inception through June 30, 2020 by State and Applicant Type ............................................................................................ 50 Table 5.1  Rural Health Care Funding Commitments and Disbursements by Program and Year ....................... 52 Table 5.2  Rural Health Care Funding Commitments and Disbursements from Program Inception ................... 53 Table 6.1  Household Voice Subscribership in the United States, 1983  2020 .................................................. 56 Table 6.2  Household Voice Subscribership by Income, 1997  2020 ................................................................ 57 Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 3 2020 Monitoring Report Table 6.3  Nominal Dollar Equivalents by Year .................................................................................................. 58 Table 6.4  Historical Voice Penetration Estimates .............................................................................................. 59 Table 6.5  Voice Subscribership by Selected Demographic Characteristics ....................................................... 60 Table 6.6  Voice Subscribership by State, 2013  2019 ...................................................................................... 61 Table 6.7  Voice Penetration by State, Selected Years ........................................................................................ 62 Table 6.8  Household Voice Penetration by State and Income, 2019 .................................................................. 63 Table 6.9  Internet Use by Selected Characteristics, 2019 ................................................................................... 64 Table 6.10  High-Speed Internet Penetration for Households by State, 2015  20191 ........................................ 65 Table 6.11  Residential Fixed Connections per Household by Speed Tier  December 31, 2019 ....................... 66 Table 6.12  Telephone Service, Internet Access, Telephone Expenses, and Internet Expenses in Low-Income Households, 2019 .................................................................................................................................... 68 Table 6.13  Switched Access Lines and Interconnected VoIP Subscribers for ILECs ........................................ 69 Table 6.14  Fixed Connections for ILECs ........................................................................................................... 70 Table 6.15  Fixed Deployments for ILECs .......................................................................................................... 71 Table 6.16  Overview of Broadband Deployment by High-Cost Support Mechanism ....................................... 72 Table 6.17  High Cost Supported Broadband Deployment by State .................................................................... 73 Table 7.1  Long-Term Changes for Various Price Indices .................................................................................. 76 Table 7.2  Annual Changes in CPI Telephone Services and all Items Indices .................................................... 77 Table 7.3  Monthly Consumer Price Indices ....................................................................................................... 78 Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 4 2020 Monitoring Report Universal Service Monitoring Report 2020 Introduction and Summary This is the twenty-third report in a series prepared by federal and state staff members for the Federal- State-Joint Board on Universal Service (Universal Service Joint Board).1 Unless otherwise noted, this report is generally based on information available to us as of September 2020. This report is focused on monitoring the impact of various universal service support mechanisms and the method used to finance them. This report is part of a monitoring program created by the Federal Communications Commission in 1997.2 The Monitoring Report incorporates data from several sources, including the National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA) and the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). USAC collects information from both contributors to, and beneficiaries of, the Universal Service Fund, including incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs), competitive eligible telecommunications carriers (competitive ETCs), schools, libraries, and health care providers. NECA, at the direction of the Commission, provides information to USAC used to administer certain aspects of the high-cost program. Section 1 of the report provides an update on industry revenues, universal service program funding requirements, and contribution factors. Sections 2 through 5 provide the latest data on the low-income, high- cost, schools and libraries, and rural health care support mechanisms. Section 6 presents recent Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics data on voice telephony subscribership and expenses taken from the Current Population Survey, the American Community Survey and the Consumer Expenditure Survey as well as data on telephone subscribership by income by state. It also includes data on residential Internet subscribership and expenses. Section 7 includes updated Consumer Price Index data. This entire report is available electronically in page image (.pdf) format through the FCC s Federal- State Joint Board Monitoring Reports website, located at http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/federal-state- joint-board-monitoring-reports. The tables of the report are also available separately as spreadsheet files in a single compressed (.zip) format file at this site. The Monitoring Report is published once a year. Information received well in advance of the next Monitoring Report will be made available on an interim basis in separate staff reports or in raw data files (such as most NECA filings used in the Monitoring Report) on the Office of Economics and Analytics Statistical Reports Internet site. Supplementary material is available in a single compressed (.zip) format file at http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/federal-state-joint-board-monitoring-reports. The contents of this file are provided at the end of this introduction. 1 The last report was released in February 2020. Universal Service Monitoring Report, 2019, CC Docket No. 96-45 et al. (Data Received Through September 2019) available at https://www.fcc.gov/general/federal-state-joint-board- monitoring-reports. 2 In 1997, the Commission adopted rules to implement section 254 largely based on the recommendations of the Universal Service Joint Board and delegated to the Common Carrier Bureau (the predecessor to the Wireline Competition Bureau), in consultation with the state staff, the creation of a new monitoring program to replace a similar program in CC Docket No. 87-339 that previously resulted in a series of nineteen Monitoring Reports. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, CC Docket No. 96-45, Report and Order, 12 FCC Rcd 8776, 9218, para. 869 (1997) (Universal Service First Report and Order). See 47 C.F.R. § 54.702(i). Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 5 2020 Monitoring Report We continue to look for ways to present universal service data in a way that is useful for the public. In section 2, we have provided additional information on the Lifeline program. Table 2.6 now includes data on the share of Lifeline subscribers using wireless technology. We have also added Table 2.8 which breaks out Lifeline subscribers by whether they are voice only, broadband only, or bundle subscribers and Supplemental Table 2.5 which further breaks this out between technology. Last year we added a new chart in Section 6 showing nationwide deployment information requested by the Joint Board. This year we are adding a supplemental table presenting deployment data at the state level. We invite questions or comments on this report via email at OEA-IADreports@fcc.gov with subject: December 2020 Monitoring Report. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 6 2020 Monitoring Report 2020 Monitoring Report Supplementary Material This list shows the folders (underlined) and filenames contained in the 2020 Monitoring Report Supplementary Material zip file available at http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/federal-state-joint-board- monitoring-reports. Revenues and Contributions S.1.1. Detailed Telecommunications Revenue - 2019 S.1.2, Revenue Details - Historical S.1.3. Estimating End-User Revenue by State - 2018 Technical Appendix S.1.4. Estimating End-User Revenue by State - 2018 Tables S.1.5. Contribution Base Revenues by Program Low Income S.2.1. LI Support - by State S.2.2. LI Support - by Study Area S.2.3. LI Subscribers and Beneficiaries - by State S.2.4. ETCs Receiving Lifeline Support - 2019 S.2.5. Lifeline Subscribers by Service Type, State and Technology High Cost Claims S.3.1. HC Claims - by State S.3.2. HC Claims - by Study Area S.3.3. HC RoR Claims per Line - by Study Area S.3.4. HC Support Study Areas  2019 S.3.5 HC Reductions due to Cap on Per-Line Support - by Study Area Disbursements S.3.6. HC Disbursements - by State S.3.7. HC Disbursements - by Study Area S.3.8. HC Performance Default Penalty Schools and Libraries S.4.1. SL Funds - by Service Type, State, and Funding Year S.4.2. SL Cumulative Funds - by Service Type and State S.4.3. SL Disbursements - by Service Provider Type S.4.4. SL Funds per Student - by State S.4.5. SL Funds - by Applicant Type, State, and Funding Year Rural Health Care S.5.1. RHC Funds - by State, Program, and Year S.5.2. RHC Disbursements - by Speed, Year, and State S.5.3. RHC Disbursements - by Speed, Year, and HCP Type S.5.4. RHC Disbursements per Person - by State S.5.5. RHC Funds - by HCP Type, Program, and Year Subscribership and Minutes of Use S.6.1. Broadband Subscribership by County, Congressional District & State S.6.2. ILEC Interstate Switched Access Minutes of Use - by Study Area S.6.3. ILEC Interstate Switched Access Minutes of Use - by Tier S.6.4. ILEC Interstate Switched Access Minutes of Use - by State S.6.5. High-Cost Supported Broadband Deployment by SAC and Year S.6.6. High-Cost Supported Broadband Obligation & Deployment by SAC S.6.7. Fine Detail Obligation and Deployment for AK Plan Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 7 2020 Monitoring Report Section 1  Revenues and Contributions In response to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Commission established universal service mechanisms to help ensure that all Americans have access to affordable telecommunications service. Congress mandated that these programs be supported by contributions from every telecommunications carrier that provides interstate telecommunications, and other providers of telecommunications services if the Commission finds contributions from such providers to be in the public interest. The tables in this section provide an overview of the revenues of the U.S. telecommunications industry and the associated contributions to the universal service support mechanisms. The tables are based on information filed with the Commission in FCC Forms 499-A and 499-Q. To the extent that certain telecommunications industry revenues are not subject to contributions, such revenues may not be fully captured in these tables. Additional revenue collection information support universal service can be found at the Commission s website http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/contribution-methodology-administrative-filings and on USAC s website at http://www.usac.org. Please note that that the information provided in this report is based upon Commission rules in effect in 2019. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 8 2020 Monitoring Report Table 1.1  Filer Revenues by Service Type: 2010  2019 (in Millions of Dollars) 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Local Exchange 1 $43,878 $38,987 $35,298 $32,922 $30,537 $28,410 $25,900 $23,208 $20,771 $18,806 Pay Telephone 2 197 136 368 359 322 286 271 269 265 280 Local Private Line 3 26,809 28,243 29,072 29,632 31,222 32,191 30,472 30,272 26,906 25,560 4 Local Service VoIP Local 8,234 8,110 8,990 10,103 11,136 11,968 14,398 14,428 14,503 14,355 and Other Local 5 3,032 3,145 2,462 1,746 1,450 1,493 1,510 1,749 1,710 1,265 Payphone Revenues 6 Federal and State USF Support 4,880 5,620 6,282 5,991 5,786 6,137 6,016 5,904 5,994 6,422 Subscriber Line Charges 7 7,481 6,703 6,195 5,968 5,511 5,175 4,787 4,431 4,049 3,700 Access 8 8,336 7,368 6,787 6,384 5,006 4,836 3,809 3,312 2,850 2,575 Total Local Service and Payphone Revenues 102,847 98,313 95,455 93,105 90,969 90,495 87,162 83,572 77,048 72,964 Mobile Revenues Total Mobile Service Revenues 9 111,643 107,392 105,147 98,160 86,996 75,262 65,636 56,952 52,890 39,631 Operator 10 3,585 3,162 3,373 3,064 2,699 2,351 1,876 1,844 1,810 1,711 VoIP Toll 11 1,943 4,250 4,693 4,999 5,139 5,238 3,447 3,768 3,925 3,518 Non-Operator Switched Toll 12 25,189 23,307 20,718 18,346 17,354 16,261 14,850 11,841 11,068 9,913 Toll Service Revenues Long Distance Private Line 13 14,344 11,443 12,221 12,542 12,293 12,778 13,353 13,316 12,850 11,991 Other Long Distance 14 4,945 4,186 5,155 3,886 3,965 3,050 2,816 3,306 2,233 2,273 Total Toll Service Revenues 50,006 46,347 46,159 42,837 41,450 39,678 36,342 34,075 31,885 29,405 Total Local, Mobile, and Toll Revenues 264,496 252,052 246,761 234,102 219,416 205,436 189,141 174,599 161,824 142,000 Universal Service Surcharges 15 8,662 8,986 9,964 8,986 9,083 9,041 9,135 8,319 8,438 8,447 Total Telecommunications Revenues 16 273,158 261,038 256,725 243,088 228,499 214,477 198,276 182,918 170,262 150,447 Total Non-Telecommunications Revenues 17 173,228 214,538 219,548 251,892 268,804 301,121 311,404 321,597 337,212 361,245 Total Reported Revenues $446,386 $475,576 $476,272 $494,981 $497,303 $515,598 $509,679 $504,516 $507,474 $511,692 1 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 303.1a, 303.2a, 404.1a, 404.2a, and 404.3a from Form 499-A. 2 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 306a and 407a from Form 499-A. 3 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 305.1a, 305.2a, and 406a from Form 499-A. 4 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 404.4a and 404.5a from Form 499-A. 5 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 307a and 408a from Form 499-A. 6 Dollar amounts are calculated using Line 308a from Form 499-A. 7 Dollar amounts are calculated using Line 405a from Form 499-A. As of 2012, includes Access Recovery Charge (ARC). 8 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 304.1a and 304.2a from Form 499-A. 9 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 309a, 409a, and 410a from Form 499-A. 10 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 310a, 411a, 412a, and 413a from Form 499-A. 11 Dollar amounts are calculated using Line 414.2a from Form 499-A. 12 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 311a and 414.1a from Form 499-A. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 9 2020 Monitoring Report 13 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 312a and 415a from Form 499-A. 14 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 313a, 314a, 416a, and 417a from Form 499-A. 15 Dollar amounts are calculated using Line 403a from Form 499-A. The surcharge figure indicates only surcharges that have been explicitly reported as such in Form 499-A and does not account for implicit surcharge revenues where carriers collect the surcharge through higher prices. 16 Subtotal includes surcharge. 17 Dollar amounts are calculated using Line 418a from Form 499-A. Note: Detail may not add to totals due to rounding. Source: FCC Form 499-A for 2019 based on filings as of September 28, 2020. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 10 2020 Monitoring Report Table 1.2  Filer Revenues,1 Wholesale vs. Retail: 2010  2019 (in Millions of Dollars) 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Local Service 3,4 $37,955 $39,807 $39,843 $39,101 $37,983 $38,976 $36,180 $35,501 $32,701 $31,224 Mobile Service 5 5,006 5,512 5,570 5,384 5,339 5,025 4,601 3,463 3,403 3,564 Wholesale 6 Toll Service 15,549 11,921 11,722 10,911 10,485 9,955 9,714 8,519 7,775 6,899 (Carrier's Carrier) Telecommunications Total Wholesale Revenues $58,510 $57,239 $57,135 $55,396 $53,807 $53,955 $50,496 $47,484 $43,879 $41,687 7 Revenues 2 Intrastate 22,484 20,379 18,895 17,236 16,174 15,775 13,749 13,095 11,737 11,481 Interstate and International 8,9 36,026 36,861 38,240 38,160 37,633 38,180 36,747 34,389 32,142 30,206 Percentage Interstate/International 62 % 64 % 67 % 69 % 70 % 71 % 73 % 72 % 73 % 72 % Local Service 3,10 $64,892 $58,506 $55,612 $54,004 $52,986 $51,519 $50,982 $48,071 $44,347 $41,740 Mobile Service 11 106,637 101,881 99,577 92,776 81,657 70,238 61,035 53,489 49,487 36,067 12 34,457 34,426 34,438 31,927 30,966 29,723 26,628 25,556 24,110 22,506 Retail Toll Service 13 (End User) Universal Service Surcharges 8,662 8,986 9,964 8,986 9,083 9,041 9,135 8,319 8,438 8,447 Telecommunications Total Retail Revenues $214,648 $203,798 $199,590 $187,693 $174,692 $160,522 $147,780 $135,435 $126,383 $108,760 Revenues Intrastate 14 142,355 133,475 129,468 119,294 107,847 96,592 87,598 79,702 73,284 61,296 Interstate and International 1,8, 15 72,293 70,323 70,122 68,399 66,846 63,930 60,181 55,733 53,098 47,464 Percentage Interstate/International 34 % 35 % 35 % 36 % 38 % 40 % 41 % 41 % 42 % 44 % Local Service 3 $102,847 $98,313 $95,455 $93,105 $90,969 $90,495 $87,162 $83,572 $77,048 $72,964 Mobile Service 111,643 107,392 105,147 98,160 86,996 75,262 65,636 56,952 52,890 39,631 Toll Service 50,006 46,347 46,159 42,837 41,450 39,678 36,342 34,075 31,885 29,405 Total Telecommunications 13 Universal Service Surcharges 8,662 8,986 9,964 8,986 9,083 9,041 9,135 8,319 8,438 8,447 Revenues (Wholesale + Retail) Total Telecommunications Revenues $273,158 $261,038 $256,725 $243,088 $228,499 $214,477 $198,276 $182,918 $170,262 $150,447 Intrastate 164,839 153,854 148,363 136,530 124,021 112,367 101,347 92,797 85,022 72,777 Interstate and International 8 108,319 107,184 108,362 106,559 104,479 102,110 96,929 90,121 85,240 77,670 Percentage Interstate/International 40 % 41 % 42 % 44 % 46 % 48 % 49 % 49 % 50 % 52 % Total Non-Telecommunications Revenues $173,228 $214,538 $219,548 $251,892 $268,804 $301,121 $311,404 $321,597 $337,212 $361,245 Total Reported Revenues $446,387 $475,576 $476,272 $494,981 $497,303 $515,598 $509,679 $504,516 $507,474 $511,692 1 Data include revenues for de minimis filers, as well as for other carriers that are exempt from universal service contribution requirements. 2 Wholesale revenues are reported on the FCC Form 499-A as sales to other universal service contributors for resale. This includes, for example, access services that local exchange carriers provide to toll carriers. Sales to de minimis resellers, end-user customers, government-only providers, international-only providers, and any other non-contributors are treated as end-user revenues. Filers contribute to the universal service funding mechanisms based on their end-user interstate and international revenues. See Table 1.5 for further details on the USF (Universal Service Fund) contribution base. 3 Payphone revenues and interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) revenues are included with local service revenues in this table. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 11 2020 Monitoring Report 4 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 303a to 308a from Form 499-A. 5 Dollar amounts are calculated using Line 309a from Form 499-A. 6 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 310a to 314a from Form 499-A. 7 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 303a to 314a, minus the sum of Lines 303d to 314d, minus the sum of Lines 303e to 314e from Form 499-A. 8 Revenues from calls that both originate and terminate in foreign points are reported as end-user revenues and are included in this table but are not included in the universal service contribution base. This line best represents the USF contribution base, which is further described in Table 1.5. 9 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 303d to 314d, plus the sum of Lines 303e to 314e from Form 499-A. 10 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 404a to 408a from Form 499-A. 11 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 409a and 410a from Form 499-A. 12 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 411a to 417a from Form 499-A. 13 Dollar amounts are calculated using Line 403a from Form 499-A. Surcharges are contribution amounts passed through to end users. 14 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 403a to 417a, minus the sum of Lines 403d to 417d, minus the sum of Lines 403e to 417e from Form 499-A. 15 This line best represents the USF (Universal Service Fund) contribution base, which is further described in Table 1.5. Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 403d to 417d, plus the sum of Lines 403e to 417e from Form 499-A. This is different from billed interstate and international end user revenue, which does not include international-to-international revenues and uncollected revenues. Note: Detail may not add to totals due to rounding. Source: FCC Form 499-A for 2019 based on filings as of September 28, 2020. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 12 2020 Monitoring Report Table 1.3  2019 Filer Revenues by Service Type: Top 10 Affiliated Entities vs. Other Companies (in Millions of Dollars) Top 10 Affiliated Other Total Entities 1 Companies Local Exchange 2 $ 14,880 $ 3,926 $ 18,806 Pay Telephone 3 6 274 280 Local Private Line 4 20,491 5,069 25,560 5 Local Service Vo IP 9,424 4,931 14,355 and Other Local 6 861 404 1,265 Payphone Revenues 7 Federal and State USF Support 2,550 3,872 6,422 Subscriber Line Charges 8 2,616 1,084 3,700 Access 9 1,677 897 2,575 Total Local Service and Payphone Revenues 52,506 20,457 72,964 Mobile Revenues Total Mobile Service Revenues 10 35,738 3,893 39,631 Operator 11 89 1,622 1,711 Vo IP 12 2,860 658 3,518 Non-Operator Switched Toll 13 5,667 4,246 9,913 Toll Service Revenues Long Distance Private Line 14 9,961 2,030 11,991 Other Long Distance 15 434 1,840 2,273 Total Toll Service Revenues 19,010 10,395 29,405 Total Local, Mobile, and Toll Revenues 107,254 34,745 142,000 Universal Service Surcharges 16 6,929 1,518 8,447 Total Telecommunications Revenues 17 114,184 36,263 150,447 Total Non-Telecommunications Revenues 18 259,565 101,680 361,245 Total Reported Revenues $ 373,749 $ 137,943 $ 511,692 1 The "Top 10 Affiliated Entities" are those with the greatest telecommunications revenues as defined by the sum of Lines 315a and 420a on Form 499-A. These companies are (in alphabetical order): América Móvil, AT&T Inc., CenturyLink, Charter Communications, Comcast Corporation, Deutsche Telekom AG, Frontier Communications Corporation, SoftBank Corporation, Verizon Communications, and Windstream Holdings, Inc. The affiliated entity structure is current as of year- end 2019. 2 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 303.1a, 303.2a, 404.1a, 404.2a, and 404.3a from Form 499-A. 3 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 306a and 407a from Form 499-A. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 13 2020 Monitoring Report 4 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 305.1a, 305.2a, and 406a from Form 499-A. 5 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 404.4a and 404.5a from Form 499-A. 6 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 307a and 408a from Form 499-A. 7 Dollar amounts are calculated using Line 308a from Form 499-A. 8 Dollar amounts are calculated using Line 405a from Form 499-A. As of 2012, includes Access Recovery Charge (ARC). 9 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 304.1a and 304.2a from Form 499-A. 10 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 309a, 409a, and 410a from Form 499-A. 11 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 310a, 411a, 412a, and 413a from Form 499-A. 12 Dollar amounts are calculated using Line 414.2a from Form 499-A. 13 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 311a and 414.1a from Form 499-A. 14 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 312a and 415a from Form 499-A. 15 Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 313a, 314a, 416a, and 417a from Form 499-A. 16 Dollar amounts are calculated using Line 403a from Form 499-A. The surcharge figure indicates only surcharges that have been explicitly reported as such in the Form 499-A and does not account for implicit surcharge revenues where carriers collect the surcharge through higher prices. 17 Subtotal includes surcharge. 18 Dollar amounts are calculated using Line 418a from Form 499-A. Note: Detail may not add to totals due to rounding. Source: FCC Form 499-A based on filings as of September 28, 2020. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 14 2020 Monitoring Report Table 1.4  Telecommunications Revenue Reported on FCC Form 499-Q: 2018  2020 (in Millions of Dollars) LIRE Total Data from FCC Form 499-Q All Filers Exemption1 Less LIRE Retail (End User) Billed 53,217 Projected Revenues for 2018 Interstate and International Retail Net of Uncollectibles 52,855 (1,861) 50,994 Implied Uncollectible Rate 0.7 % Wholesale (Carrier's Carrier) Billed 43,074 Intrastate, Interstate, Retail (End User) Billed 126,820 Historical Revenues and International Reported for 2018 Total Revenue 169,894 Interstate and International Retail (End User) Billed 52,819 Retail (End User) Billed 6 49,108 Projected Revenues for 2019 Interstate and International Retail Net of Uncollectibles 7,8 48,742 (1,694) 47,048 Implied Uncollectible Rate 0.7 % Wholesale (Carrier's Carrier) Billed 9 39,557 Intrastate, Interstate, Retail (End User) Billed 10 109,012 Historical Revenues and International Reported for 2019 Total Revenue 148,568 Interstate and International Retail (End User) Billed 11 47,256 Retail (End User) Billed 6 45,161 Projected Revenues for 2020 Interstate and International Retail Net of Uncollectibles 7,8 44,815 (1,598) 43,217 Implied Uncollectible Rate 0.8 % Wholesale (Carrier's Carrier) Billed 9 18,547 Intrastate, Interstate, Retail (End User) Billed 10 51,272 Historical Revenues and International Reported for First Half of 2020 Total Revenue 69,819 Interstate and International Retail (End User) Billed 11 22,579 Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 15 2020 Monitoring Report 1 A provider receives the Limited International Revenue Exemption (LIRE) and its international revenues are excluded from the contribution base if the total amount of interstate end-user revenues for the filing entity, consolidated with all affiliates, is less than 12% of the total of interstate and international end-user revenues for the filing entity consolidated with all affiliates. Affiliated filer entities who do not pass the 12% rule, but whose USF obligation exceeds its interstate revenue, may be considered for the LIRE exemption on a case-by-case basis. See 47 C.F.R. § 54.706(c). In addition, filers that provide only international services are exempt regardless of services offered by affiliates. 2 Projected intrastate revenues are not reported on FCC Form 499-Q. 3 Prior to 2014, this line was referred to as "Billed to End Users." 4 Prior to 2014, this line was referred to as "Collected from End Users." 5 Prior to 2014, this line was referred to as "Billed to Resellers." 6 Dollar amounts for projected revenues billed to end users are calculated using the sum of Lines 119b and 119c from Form 499-Q. 7 Dollar amounts for projected revenues collected from end users are calculated using the sum of Lines 120b and 120c from Form 499-Q. 8 Dollar amounts for projected LIRE exempt revenues are calculated using the sum of Lines 120b and 120c in the Form 499Q filings from those filers who are LIRE-exempt. 9 Dollar amounts for historical revenues billed to wholesaler is calculated using Line 115a from Form 499-Q. 10 Dollar amounts for historical revenues billed to retail is calculated using Line 116a from Form 499-Q. 11 Dollar amounts for interstate and international historical revenues billed to end users is calculated using the sum of Lines 116b and 116c from Form 499-Q. Note: Detail may not add to totals due to rounding. Source: FCC Form 499-Q as of September 15, 2020. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 16 2020 Monitoring Report Table 1.5  USF Contribution Base by Year1: 2010  2019 (in Millions of Dollars) Revenues Subject to USF Contribution 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Billed interstate and international retail (end-user) revenues (includes Universal Service Surcharge) 2 $72,293 $70,323 $70,122 $68,399 $66,846 $63,930 $60,181 $55,733 $53,098 $47,464 less revenues for international-to-international services 3 469 452 638 589 579 361 174 150 198 215 international revenues of international-only filers and international revenues that were excluded less because of the LIRE Exemption4 3,373 3,095 2,836 2,957 2,811 2,669 2,031 1,916 1,623 1,652 interstate and other international revenues for filers who are de minimis or otherwise exempt less from universal service support requirements 27 24 21 24 26 26 26 27 28 27 less uncollectible contribution base revenues5 960 786 712 605 530 470 427 355 330 314 equals $67,464 $65,966 $65,914 $64,224 $62,900 $60,403 $57,524 $53,284 $50,919 $45,255 1 This table shows the contribution base for the Universal Service Fund (USF), but the actual amounts used for determining contributions may differ due to the following factors: (1) Adjustments are made by the Administrator to account for additional and corrected filings received; (2) Exempt amounts were based on revenues and the filer type (i.e., principal business activity) information contained in the FCC Form 499-A filings; (3) The Administrator may use carrier type, revenue type, Line 603 exemption certifications, and additional information requested from filers to determine which filers are required to contribute; (4) The Administrator bills delinquent filers based on estimated revenues and may, in some instances, include estimated revenue amounts in contribution base amounts; (5) The universal service contribution factors are set quarterly based on FCC Form 499-Q filings; and (6) FCC Form 499-A data are used for true-up and auditing purposes. As a result of these factors, actual contribution bases have been based on different amounts than those shown. 2 This table shows the contribution base for the Universal Service Fund (USF), but the actual amounts used for determining contributions may differ due to the following factors: (1) Adjustments are made by the Administrator to account for additional and corrected filings received; (2) Exempt amounts were based on revenues and the filer type (i.e., principal business activity) information contained in the FCC Form 499-A filings; (3) The Administrator may use carrier type, revenue type, Line 603 exemption certifications, and additional information requested from filers to determine which filers are required to contribute; (4) The Administrator bills delinquent filers based on estimated revenues and may, in some instances, include estimated revenue amounts in contribution base amounts; (5) The universal service contribution factors are set quarterly based on FCC Form 499-Q filings; and (6) FCC Form 499-A data are used for true-up and auditing purposes. As a result of these factors, actual contribution bases have been based on different amounts than those shown. 3 This table shows the contribution base for the Universal Service Fund (USF), but the actual amounts used for determining contributions may differ due to the following factors: (1) Adjustments are made by the Administrator to account for additional and corrected filings received; (2) Exempt amounts were based on revenues and the filer type (i.e., principal business activity) information contained in the FCC Form 499-A filings; (3) The Administrator may use carrier type, revenue type, Line 603 exemption certifications, and additional information requested from filers to determine which filers are required to contribute; (4) The Administrator bills delinquent filers based on estimated revenues and may, in some instances, include estimated revenue amounts in contribution base amounts; (5) The universal service contribution factors are set quarterly based on FCC Form 499-Q filings; and (6) FCC Form 499-A data are used for true-up and auditing purposes. As a result of these factors, actual contribution bases have been based on different amounts than those shown. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 17 2020 Monitoring Report 4 A provider receives the Limited International Revenue Exemption (LIRE) and its international revenues are excluded from the contribution base if the total amount of interstate end-user revenues for the filing entity consolidated with all affiliates is less than 12% of the total of interstate and international end-user revenues for the filing entity consolidated with all affiliates. Affiliated filer entities who do not pass the 12% rule, but whose USF obligation exceeds its interstate revenue may request to be considered for the LIRE exemption on a case-by-case basis. See 47 C.F.R. § 54.706(c). In addition, filers that provide only international services are exempt regardless of services offered by affiliates. 5 Does not include uncollectible amounts associated with filers who are de minimis or LIRE exempt. Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 422d and 422e on Form 499-A. Dollar amounts are calculated using the sum of Lines 422, parts d and e of Form 499-A. Note: Detail may not add to totals due to rounding. Source: FCC Form 499-A for 2019 based on filings as of September 28, 2020. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 18 2020 Monitoring Report Table 1.6  Universal Service Fund Contribution Factor1 Year Quarter Contribution Factor 2011 First Quarter 15.5 Second Quarter 14.9 Third Quarter 14.4 Fourth Quarter 15.3 2012 First Quarter 17.9 Second Quarter 17.4 Third Quarter 15.7 Fourth Quarter 17.4 2013 First Quarter 16.1 Second Quarter 15.5 Third Quarter 15.1 Fourth Quarter 15.6 2014 First Quarter 16.4 Second Quarter 16.6 Third Quarter 15.7 Fourth Quarter 16.1 2015 First Quarter 16.8 Second Quarter 17.4 Third Quarter 17.1 Fourth Quarter 16.7 2016 First Quarter 18.2 Second Quarter 17.9 Third Quarter 17.9 Fourth Quarter 17.4 2017 First Quarter 16.7 Second Quarter 17.4 Third Quarter 17.1 Fourth Quarter 18.8 2018 First Quarter 19.5 Second Quarter 18.4 Third Quarter 17.9 Fourth Quarter 20.1 2019 First Quarter 20.0 Second Quarter 18.8 Third Quarter 24.4 Fourth Quarter 25.0 2020 First Quarter 21.2 Second Quarter 19.6 Third Quarter 26.5 Fourth Quarter 27.1 1 Carriers contribute based on projected, collected, end-user interstate and international telecommunications revenues. Source: Quarterly Public Notices on universal service contribution factors are in CC Docket 96-45. See http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/contribution-factor-quarterly-filings-universal-service-fund-usf-management-support. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 19 2020 Monitoring Report Table 1.7  Billed Interstate and International Retail Communications Revenues by Top 10 Affiliated Entities vs. Other Companies: 2010  First Half 20201 (in Millions of Dollars) Top 10 Affiliated Entities 2 Other Companies Total Top 10 Share 2010 $54,785 $17,038 $71,823 76 % 2011 54,206 15,665 69,871 78 2012 53,671 15,813 69,483 77 2013 52,779 15,031 67,810 78 2014 52,739 13,528 66,267 80 2015 50,083 13,485 63,568 79 2016 47,638 12,369 60,008 79 2017 44,897 10,686 55,582 81 2018 42,405 10,495 52,900 80 2019 36,900 10,349 47,249 78 3 First Half 2020 17,861 4,699 22,560 79 1 Revenues are calculated as the sum of Lines 403d to 417d (interstate end user revenue) and 403e to 417e (international end user revenue) minus Lines 412e from Form 499-A. 2 The "Top 10 Affiliated Entities" are those with the greatest telecommunications revenues as defined by the sum of Lines 315a and 420a on Form 499-A. These companies, for 2019, are (in alphabetical order): América Móvil, AT&T Inc., CenturyLink, Charter Communications, Comcast Corporation, Deutsche Telekom AG, Frontier Communications Corporation, SoftBank Corporation, Verizon Communications, and Windstream Holdings, Inc.. 3 Preliminary revenues are calculated using Line 116b plus Line 116c for each quarter in FCC Form 499-Q. Note: Detail may not add to totals due to rounding. Source: Data for 2010 through 2018 are based on Form 499-A filings as of September 28, 2020. Data for 2020 are based on FCC Form 499-Q filings as of September 15, 2020. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 20 2020 Monitoring Report Table 1.8  End User Telecommunications Revenue by State: 2018 (in Millions of Dollars) Interstate and % Interstate and Intrastate Total % Intrastate % Total International International Alabama $967 $648 $1,615 1.32 % 1.22 % 1.28 % Alaska 144 123 266 0.20 0.23 0.21 American Samoa 7 4 11 0.01 0.01 0.01 Arizona 1,402 1,080 2,482 1.92 2.03 1.97 Arkansas 596 428 1,025 0.82 0.81 0.81 California 9,057 6,366 15,423 12.38 11.99 12.22 Colorado 1,261 1,014 2,275 1.72 1.91 1.80 Connecticut 917 707 1,623 1.25 1.33 1.29 Delaware 234 196 430 0.32 0.37 0.34 District of Columbia 400 333 733 0.55 0.63 0.58 Florida 4,288 3,073 7,361 5.86 5.79 5.83 Georgia 2,228 1,508 3,736 3.05 2.84 2.96 Gu am 37 26 63 0.05 0.05 0.05 Hawaii 314 238 551 0.43 0.45 0.44 Idaho 330 260 590 0.45 0.49 0.47 Illinois 2,894 2,178 5,072 3.96 4.10 4.02 Indiana 1,328 1,011 2,340 1.82 1.90 1.85 Iowa 701 515 1,216 0.96 0.97 0.96 Kansas 623 434 1,057 0.85 0.82 0.84 Kentucky 917 612 1,529 1.25 1.15 1.21 Louisiana 1,002 634 1,636 1.37 1.19 1.30 Maine 341 223 564 0.47 0.42 0.45 Maryland 1,494 1,236 2,729 2.04 2.33 2.16 Massachusetts 1,861 1,331 3,192 2.54 2.51 2.53 Michigan 2,033 1,435 3,467 2.78 2.70 2.75 Minnesota 1,367 1,031 2,399 1.87 1.94 1.90 Mississippi 524 340 864 0.72 0.64 0.68 Missouri 1,268 975 2,243 1.73 1.84 1.78 Montana 230 176 406 0.32 0.33 0.32 Nebraska 449 323 772 0.61 0.61 0.61 Nevada 624 458 1,083 0.85 0.86 0.86 New Hampshire 366 258 624 0.50 0.49 0.49 New Jersey 2,397 1,830 4,227 3.28 3.45 3.35 New Mexico 410 307 717 0.56 0.58 0.57 New York 5,232 3,581 8,813 7.15 6.74 6.98 North Carolina 2,119 1,488 3,607 2.90 2.80 2.86 North Dakota 172 109 280 0.24 0.20 0.22 N. Mariana Islands 23 36 60 0.03 0.07 0.05 Ohio 2,557 1,802 4,359 3.50 3.39 3.45 Oklahoma 735 513 1,248 1.00 0.97 0.99 Oregon 869 656 1,525 1.19 1.24 1.21 Pennsylvania 3,124 2,310 5,434 4.27 4.35 4.31 Puerto Rico 647 475 1,123 0.89 0.90 0.89 Rhode Island 242 163 405 0.33 0.31 0.32 South Carolina 1,032 712 1,744 1.41 1.34 1.38 South Dakota 216 142 358 0.30 0.27 0.28 Tennessee 1,439 964 2,403 1.97 1.82 1.90 Texas 5,545 3,992 9,536 7.58 7.52 7.55 Utah 574 452 1,026 0.78 0.85 0.81 Vermont 173 135 307 0.24 0.25 0.24 Virgin Islands 26 26 51 0.04 0.05 0.04 Virginia 2,002 1,579 3,581 2.74 2.97 2.84 Washington 1,603 1,226 2,829 2.19 2.31 2.24 West Virginia 416 347 763 0.57 0.65 0.60 Wisconsin 1,245 975 2,221 1.70 1.84 1.76 Wyoming 129 104 232 0.18 0.20 0.18 Total $73,132 $53,096 $126,228 100.00 % 100.00 % 100.00 % Note: Figures may not add to totals due to rounding. Source: FCC/WCB staff estimates. For methodology end-user revenue per state, see the Technical Appendix at http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/federal-state-joint-board-monitoring-reports. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 21 2020 Monitoring Report Table 1.9  Universal Service Support Mechanisms by State: 2019 (Annual Payments and Contributions in Thousands of Dollars) Payments from USF to Providers Estimated Contributions 2 Estimated Net Dollar High-Cost Total Low-Income Support Schools & Libraries Rural Health Care Fl ow 3 S upport 1 Amount % of Total Amount % of Total Alabama $ 93,456 $ 11,387 $ 28,317 $ 1,230 $ 134,389 1.61 % $ 104,222 1.22 % $ 30,167 Alaska 179,049 11,660 83,885 34,698 309,292 3.70 19,727 0.23 289,565 American Samoa 3,737 118 2,078 0 5,933 0.07 672 0.01 5,261 Arizona 82,338 30,160 62,577 2,501 177,576 2.13 173,781 2.03 3,795 Arkansas 120,144 8,624 22,246 8,058 159,072 1.91 68,907 0.81 90,165 California 156,476 166,609 253,340 13,486 589,911 7.07 1,024,245 11.99 -434,334 Colorado 64,722 6,433 28,985 5,856 105,995 1.27 163,222 1.91 -57,226 Connecticut 435 7,882 13,900 711 22,928 0.27 113,695 1.33 -90,767 Delaware 269 1,915 4,527 691 7,402 0.09 31,507 0.37 -24,104 District of Columbia 0 1,427 7,106 0 8,533 0.10 53,583 0.63 -45,050 Florida 48,288 59,326 76,227 4,853 188,694 2.26 494,484 5.79 -305,791 Georgia 122,380 31,866 60,556 4,597 219,398 2.63 242,690 2.84 -23,292 Gu am 13,775 98 405 125 14,403 0.17 4,250 0.05 10,153 Hawaii 5,786 948 5,302 64 12,099 0.14 38,263 0.45 -26,164 Idaho 55,886 1,589 12,884 1,840 72,198 0.86 41,859 0.49 30,339 Illinois 128,270 24,857 72,242 5,717 231,086 2.77 350,392 4.10 -119,305 Indiana 125,100 16,981 39,127 7,216 188,424 2.26 162,738 1.90 25,686 Iowa 231,679 5,279 17,916 3,250 258,124 3.09 82,807 0.97 175,317 Kansas 183,316 4,361 19,438 3,934 211,048 2.53 69,838 0.82 141,210 Kentucky 159,240 15,344 22,422 5,609 202,615 2.43 98,514 1.15 104,101 Louisiana 82,496 21,356 32,306 4,456 140,613 1.68 101,993 1.19 38,620 Maine 35,593 2,450 6,964 6,068 51,075 0.61 35,843 0.42 15,232 Maryland 3,916 15,698 22,971 5,186 47,770 0.57 198,814 2.33 -151,043 Massachusetts 2,232 14,081 27,042 825 44,181 0.53 214,162 2.51 -169,981 Michigan 119,633 36,299 34,966 11,987 202,886 2.43 230,828 2.70 -27,942 Minnesota 250,158 8,545 24,153 2,227 285,083 3.41 165,930 1.94 119,153 Mississippi 167,004 7,120 20,219 7,822 202,165 2.42 54,631 0.64 147,534 Missouri 195,148 10,699 24,239 6,724 236,808 2.84 156,938 1.84 79,871 Montana 147,436 1,193 4,676 702 154,007 1.84 28,242 0.33 125,765 Nebraska 124,190 578 9,636 3,759 138,164 1.65 51,929 0.61 86,235 Nevada 20,424 8,884 7,707 464 37,478 0.45 73,770 0.86 -36,292 New Hampshire 12,532 971 3,940 168 17,612 0.21 41,479 0.49 -23,867 New Jersey 1,201 19,581 43,550 0 64,331 0.77 294,396 3.45 -230,065 New Mexico 92,526 18,172 50,465 2,540 163,703 1.96 49,450 0.58 114,253 New York 62,756 73,348 86,568 7,150 229,821 2.75 576,150 6.74 -346,329 North Carolina 80,513 21,683 55,520 8,457 166,173 1.99 239,385 2.80 -73,212 North Dakota 184,347 1,086 3,427 990 189,850 2.27 17,466 0.20 172,384 N. Mariana Islands 3,209 187 324 0 3,720 0.04 5,812 0.07 -2,092 Ohio 85,871 41,114 65,622 6,947 199,554 2.39 289,938 3.39 -90,384 Oklahoma 164,272 49,010 40,139 3,918 257,340 3.08 82,581 0.97 174,759 Oregon 88,690 5,468 22,046 5,698 121,902 1.46 105,538 1.24 16,364 Pennsylvania 61,460 40,415 53,074 3,663 158,612 1.90 371,749 4.35 -213,137 Puerto Rico 115,237 44,577 25,252 0 185,066 2.22 76,480 0.90 108,586 Rhode Island 57 3,046 5,496 0 8,599 0.10 26,231 0.31 -17,632 South Carolina 129,514 13,171 34,166 4,649 181,500 2.17 114,514 1.34 66,986 South Dakota 134,807 1,717 4,567 2,456 143,547 1.72 22,840 0.27 120,707 Tennessee 99,985 18,997 59,757 4,840 183,578 2.20 155,093 1.82 28,485 Texas 305,185 43,785 228,733 14,119 591,822 7.09 642,264 7.52 -50,442 Utah 46,264 2,677 17,842 771 67,554 0.81 72,684 0.85 -5,130 Vermont 23,393 964 3,369 882 28,608 0.34 21,664 0.25 6,944 Virgin Islands 16,454 76 1,115 0 17,645 0.21 4,117 0.05 13,528 Virginia 86,581 10,926 35,106 3,736 136,349 1.63 254,090 2.97 -117,740 Washington 87,358 15,001 31,402 12,671 146,433 1.75 197,281 2.31 -50,848 West Virginia 59,414 6,841 16,601 1,515 84,371 1.01 55,753 0.65 28,618 Wisconsin 232,158 15,037 29,003 11,413 287,612 3.44 156,954 1.84 130,658 Wyoming 50,319 392 3,334 277 54,323 0.65 16,661 0.20 37,662 Total $ 5,146,679 $ 982,005 $ 1,968,776 $ 251,516 $ 8,348,976 100.00 % 8,543,046 100.00 % -$ 194,070 Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 22 2020 Monitoring Report 1 High-cost support excludes withheld from Mobility Fund and includes recovered forfeited funds for Connect America Fund (CAF)-Phase I Support. 2 Contributions include administrative cost of approximately $194 million, as shown in Universal Service Administration Company (USAC) Annual Report. Allocation of contributions among states is an FCC staff estimate. See the Technical Appendix at http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/federal-state-joint-board-monitoring- reports. 3 Net dollar flow is positive when payments from USF (Universal Service Fund) to carriers exceed contributions to USF. Total is negative because of administrative expenses. Note: Figures may not add due to rounding. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 23 2020 Monitoring Report Table 1.10  Universal Service Disbursements 2001  2019 (in Millions of Dollars) High-Cost Low-Income Schools and Year Rural Health Care Total S upport S upport Libraries 2001 $2,602 $584 $8 $1,464 $4,659 2002 2,978 673 16 1,683 5,350 2003 3,273 713 3 1,644 5,633 2004 3,488 759 1 1,076 5,324 2005 3,824 809 26 1,862 6,520 2006 4,096 820 41 1,669 6,626 2007 4,287 823 37 1,808 6,955 2008 4,478 819 49 1,760 7,106 2009 4,292 1,025 72 1,878 7,268 2010 4,268 1,316 110 2,282 7,976 2011 4,031 1,751 141 2,233 8,156 2012 4,147 2,189 155 2,218 8,710 2013 4,165 1,798 159 2,204 8,326 2014 3,733 1,660 193 2,269 7,855 2015 4,499 1,514 279 2,080 8,372 2016 4,491 1,537 298 2,387 8,712 2017 4,683 1,287 262 2,650 8,882 2018 4,836 1,162 299 2,185 8,482 2019 5,147 982 252 1,969 8,349 Notes: Figures may not add due to rounding. The figures used in this table are for the calendar year and include disbursements that were committed over several years but paid out in the respective calendar year. In Sections 4 and 5, figures for the Schools and Libraries program and the Rural Health Care program are reported based on fiscal year rather than calendar year. High-cost support excludes penalties for Mobility Fund and includes recovered forfeited funds for Connect America Fund (CAF)-Phase I Support. Source: Universal Service Administration Company (USAC). Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 24 2020 Monitoring Report Table 1.11  Universal Service Program Requirements and Contribution Factors for 2020 (in Millions of Dollars) First Quarter Second Quarter Third Quarter Fourth Quarter Full Year High Cos t High Cost Loop Support $98.53 $98.53 $98.05 $95.31 $390.42 Broadband Loop Support $174.58 $174.60 $187.41 $208.75 $745.34 ICLS true-up $16.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $16.00 CAF - Phase I Frozen Support 1 $25.49 $26.12 $22.84 $21.32 $95.77 Frozen Competitive ETC Support 2 $118.08 $116.77 $99.33 $98.96 $433.14 CAF - Intercarrier Compensation Support $98.95 $99.48 $99.48 $99.48 $397.39 CAF - Phase II Auction $38.70 $38.70 $37.77 $37.86 $153.03 CAF - Phase II Cost Model $379.42 $379.42 $379.42 $379.42 $1,517.68 Alternative Connect America Cost Model I & II $236.06 $236.06 $236.06 $236.06 $944.24 Alaska Plan Support $32.08 $32.08 $32.08 $32.08 $128.32 Uniendo a Puerto Rico/Connect USVI $4.14 $4.14 $21.57 $37.37 $67.22 Prior Period Adjustment -$52.02 -$19.24 -$25.07 -$14.25 -$110.58 USAC Administrative Costs $16.55 $16.34 $16.29 $16.43 $65.61 Program Total $1,186.56 $1,203.00 $1,205.23 $1,248.79 $4,843.58 Low Income Lifeline Assistance $204.37 $198.61 $198.61 $228.98 $830.57 Link-Up $0.06 $0.06 $0.06 $0.01 $0.19 Prior Period Adjustment -$46.40 -$216.42 -$10.08 -$1.80 -$274.70 USAC Administrative Costs $17.06 $17.75 $18.07 $16.89 $69.77 Program Total $175.09 $0.00 $206.66 $244.08 $625.83 Rural Health Rural Health Care Support $143.54 $143.13 $146.29 $146.48 $579.44 Prior Period Adjustment -$1.16 -$1.67 -$0.23 -$0.68 -$3.74 USAC Administrative Costs $5.00 $5.41 $4.90 $4.71 $20.02 Program Total $147.38 $146.87 $150.96 $150.51 $595.72 Connected Care Pilot Program Connected Care Pilot Program5 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $8.33 $8.33 Program Total $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $8.33 $8.33 Schools & Libraries Schools and Libraries Support $399.15 $399.15 $534.10 $534.10 $1,866.50 Prior Period Adjustment -$3.13 -$4.97 -$0.32 -$2.37 -$10.79 USAC Administrative Costs $20.49 $21.41 $20.98 $21.35 $84.23 Program Total $416.51 $415.59 $554.76 $553.08 $1,939.94 Grand Total $1,925.54 $1,765.46 $2,117.61 $2,204.79 $8,013.40 Applicable interstate and international end-user revenues Reported contribution base revenues $11,129.98 $10,865.13 $10,219.12 $10,428.38 Circulatory Adjustment Amount carriers will contribute to USF in this quarter -$1,925.54 -$1,765.46 -$2,117.61 -$2,204.79 Subtotal $9,204.44 $9,099.67 $8,101.51 $8,223.59 Adjustment factor for uncollectibles 1.0% 1.0% 1.0% 1.0% Contribution base at the time the factor was calculated $9,112.40 $9,008.67 $8,020.49 $8,141.35 Contribution factor 21.2% 19.6% 26.5% 27.1% Contribution factor times contribution base $1,931.83 $1,765.70 $2,125.43 $2,206.31 Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 25 2020 Monitoring Report 1 In the USF/ICC Transformation Order, the Commission converted support received by price cap carriers and their rate-of-return affiliates, including IAS, HCMS, ICLS, LSS, and HCLS, to CAF Phase I Frozen Support. Connect America Fund; A National Broadband Plan for Our Future; Establishing Just and Reasonable Rates for Local Exchange Carriers; High-Cost Universal Service Support; Developing a Unified Intercarrier Compensation Regime; Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service; Lifeline and Link-Up; Universal Service Reform Mobility Fund, Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 26 FCC 17663, paras. 128-157 (2011) (USF/ICC Transformation Order), aff d In re: FCC 11-161, 753 F.3d 1015 (10th Cir. 2014). 2 In the USF/ICC Transformation Order, the Commission froze support received by competitive ETCs, including IAS, HCMS, ICLS, LSS, and HCLS at 2011 levels, effective January 1, 2012, and began phasing the frozen support down effective July 1, 2012. USF/ICC Transformation Order, paras. 498-532. 3 "To secure the funds for the Pilot Program, we direct USAC to separately collect funds for the Pilot Program each quarter beginning with the demand filing for the fourth quarter of 2020," Promoting Telehealth for Low-Income Consumers, COVID-19 Telehealth Program, WC Docket Nos. 18-213 and 20- 89, Report and Order, FCC 20-44, para. 42 (2020). Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 26 2020 Monitoring Report Section 2  Lifeline (Low Income) Since 1985, the Universal Service Lifeline program has provided a discount on phone service for qualifying low-income consumers to ensure that all Americans have the opportunities and security that phone service brings, including being able to connect to jobs, family and emergency services. Recently, the Commission has made ensuring the availability of broadband service for low-income Americans a goal of the Lifeline program. In 2016, the Commission adopted an order to comprehensively reform the Lifeline program. Among other things, the Commission began providing Lifeline support for qualifying broadband service in the Lifeline program, set out minimum service standards for Lifeline-supported services, and directed USAC to establish a National Eligibility Verifier to make independent subscriber eligibility determinations. As of November 2020, the National Verifier has fully launched in all states and territories, with the exception of California, which will fully launch on December 18, 2020. The Lifeline program is available to eligible low-income consumers in every state, territory, commonwealth, and on Tribal lands. The Link Up program offsets the cost-of-service activation to qualifying low-income households. Since 2013, Link Up has been available only on Tribal lands. Consumers with proper proof of eligibility may be qualified to enroll. To participate in the Lifeline or Link Up program, consumers must have an income that is at or below 135% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines or participate in a qualifying assistance program. The Lifeline and Link Up programs are administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). Additional information about the Lifeline program can be found on the Commission s website at http://www.fcc.gov/lifeline and on USAC s website at https://www.usac.org/lifeline/. Please note that the information provided in this report is based upon the program rules through November 2020. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 27 2020 Monitoring Report Table 2.1  Lifeline Subscribers and Link up Beneficiaries (in Thousands) Lifeline Link Up Ye ar Non-Tribal Tribal Total Non-Tribal Tribal Total 1987 1,063 8 1988 1,829 106 1989 2,115 207 1990 2,467 513 1991 2,984 640 1992 3,440 743 1993 3,972 737 1994 4,423 838 1995 4,914 824 1996 5,233 808 1997 1 5,111 1998 5,376 0 5,376 2,195 0 2,195 1999 5,638 0 5,638 1,835 0 1,835 2000 5,856 4 5,861 1,690 2 1,692 2001 6,088 53 6,140 1,670 23 1,694 2002 6,393 111 6,504 1,657 30 1,687 2003 6,352 146 6,498 1,662 23 1,685 2004 6,612 176 6,788 1,670 42 1,712 2005 6,829 234 7,063 1,672 90 1,762 2006 6,634 287 6,921 1,553 101 1,654 2007 6,615 328 6,943 1,382 112 1,494 2008 6,382 350 6,732 1,510 118 1,627 2009 7,661 371 8,032 1,751 111 1,862 2010 9,883 382 10,265 2,509 126 2,635 2011 13,301 463 13,764 4,014 285 4,300 2012 16,405 761 17,166 1,228 180 1,408 2013 13,833 650 14,483 0 17 17 2014 12,943 502 13,445 0 29 29 2015 12,115 418 12,533 0 20 20 2016 12,424 360 12,783 0 21 21 2017 10,461 293 10,754 0 10 10 2018 9,342 258 9,600 0 12 12 2019 7,832 229 8,061 0 11 11 1 Subscriber data were not collected in 1997. Lifeline subscribership data were estimated by Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). Link Up data were not estimated. Notes: The Lifeline subscribers and Link Up beneficiaries represent USAC data for the time period January through December, including true-ups reported through September 2020. Data for 2013-2018 were revised because carriers can revise their filings. When carriers revise their line counts up, they receive more support and when carriers revise their line counts down, they receive less support. Source: Universal Service Administrative Company. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 28 2020 Monitoring Report Table 2.2  Low Income Claims (in Thousands of Dollars) Lifeline Link Up Total Additional Ye ar Ge ne ral Tribal 2 TLS 3 PICC 4 Total Non-Tribal Tribal Total 1988 $31,952 $0 $0 $0 $31,952 $1,991 $0 $1,991 $33,943 1989 50,878 0 0 0 50,878 4,480 0 4,480 55,358 1990 62,464 0 0 0 62,464 11,351 0 11,351 73,815 1991 79,104 0 0 0 79,104 13,705 0 13,705 92,809 1992 93,766 0 0 0 93,766 15,342 0 15,342 109,108 1993 109,083 0 0 0 109,083 17,019 0 17,019 126,102 1994 123,284 0 0 0 123,284 18,573 0 18,573 141,857 1995 137,277 0 0 0 137,277 18,392 0 18,392 155,670 1996 148,186 0 0 0 148,186 18,247 0 18,247 166,433 1997 147,579 0 0 0 147,579 13,711 0 13,711 161,290 1998 1 416,504 0 2,700 2,802 422,006 42,461 0 42,461 464,467 1999 438,578 0 3,134 4,450 446,162 33,988 0 33,988 480,150 2000 482,052 522 2,846 3,168 488,588 30,411 30 30,441 519,029 2001 548,419 6,960 3,195 0 558,574 30,314 475 30,788 589,362 2002 623,350 17,955 3,779 0 645,083 30,323 700 31,022 676,106 2003 657,095 24,167 4,425 0 685,687 30,170 515 30,686 716,373 2004 695,188 30,502 5,111 0 730,800 30,898 1,230 32,129 762,929 2005 716,133 45,124 6,215 0 767,472 31,715 2,788 34,503 801,975 2006 703,958 61,524 8,885 0 774,367 29,832 2,869 32,701 807,068 2007 710,180 73,145 8,514 0 791,839 27,816 3,575 31,391 823,230 2008 695,015 80,914 8,634 0 784,563 30,682 6,578 37,260 821,823 2009 867,541 88,061 8,959 0 964,561 40,807 7,485 48,291 1,012,852 2010 1,125,599 92,877 22,197 0 1,240,674 67,268 9,798 77,066 1,317,740 2011 1,521,279 118,119 10,814 0 1,650,212 108,449 21,528 129,977 1,780,189 2012 1,919,834 210,389 6,646 0 2,136,870 34,770 11,940 46,710 2,183,580 2013 1,607,106 179,885 2,690 0 1,789,681 0 567 567 1,790,248 2014 1,491,804 137,330 0 0 1,629,134 0 640 640 1,629,774 2015 1,390,610 118,933 0 0 1,509,543 0 447 447 1,509,990 2016 1,417,632 103,308 0 0 1,520,940 0 486 486 1,521,426 2017 1,192,842 84,192 0 0 1,277,034 0 238 238 1,277,272 2018 1,064,532 74,459 0 0 1,138,992 0 256 256 1,139,248 2019 892,761 66,611 0 0 959,372 0 224 224 959,596 1 Effective in 1998, the federal Lifeline support mechanism was expanded so that a basic level of assistance would be provided in all states. Further, the basic level of federal support was increased in 1998. 2 Tribal Lifeline subscribers also receive General support which is currently $9.25 per subscriber for qualifying broadband service or $5.25 per subscriber for qualifying voice service. This amount is not included in Additional Tribal support. 3 TLS is an abbreviation for toll limitation service. 4 Carriers no longer charge a residential Presubscribed Interexchange Carrier Charge (PICC) as of July 1, 2000. Notes: Data for 2013-2018 were updated to account for true-ups. Source: Universal Service Administrative Company. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 29 2020 Monitoring Report Table 2.3  Low Income Claims by State: 2019 (in Thousands of Dollars) Lifeline Link Up State or Jurisdiction TLS 1 Total Ge ne ral Additional Tribal Non-Tribal Tribal Alabama $11,051 $117 $0 $0 $0 $11,168 Alaska 2,543 6,480 0 5 0 9,028 American Samoa 118 0 0 0 0 118 Arizona 17,539 12,181 0 118 0 29,838 Arkansas 8,568 1 0 0 0 8,569 California 162,487 62 0 0 0 162,549 Colorado 6,223 0 0 0 0 6,223 Connecticut 7,767 0 0 0 0 7,767 Delaware 1,844 0 0 0 0 1,844 District of Columbia 1,402 0 0 0 0 1,402 Florida 56,659 0 0 0 0 56,659 Georgia 31,128 0 0 0 0 31,128 Guam 94 0 0 0 0 94 Hawaii 853 68 0 0 0 921 Idaho 1,511 51 0 0 0 1,562 Illinois 24,269 0 0 0 0 24,269 Indiana 16,773 0 0 0 0 16,773 Iowa 5,219 1 0 0 0 5,220 Kansas 4,294 3 0 0 0 4,296 Kentucky 15,098 0 0 0 0 15,098 Louisiana 20,935 0 0 0 0 20,935 Maine 2,415 7 0 0 0 2,422 Maryland 15,761 0 0 0 0 15,761 Massachusetts 13,749 0 0 0 0 13,749 Michigan 34,948 86 0 0 0 35,034 Minnesota 7,737 696 0 0 0 8,433 Mississippi 6,636 184 0 0 0 6,820 Missouri 10,392 3 0 0 0 10,395 Montana 459 709 0 3 0 1,171 Nebraska 519 45 0 0 0 565 Nevada 8,475 161 0 0 0 8,636 New Hampshire 946 0 0 0 0 946 New Jersey 19,040 0 0 0 0 19,040 New Mexico 8,901 8,940 0 85 0 17,926 New York 70,855 0 0 0 0 70,855 North Carolina 20,721 11 0 0 0 20,732 North Dakota 550 501 0 1 0 1,052 Northern Mariana Islands 204 0 0 0 0 204 Ohio 40,061 0 0 0 0 40,061 Oklahoma 16,639 33,305 0 8 0 49,952 Oregon 5,283 24 0 0 0 5,307 Pennsylvania 39,614 0 0 0 0 39,614 Puerto Rico 44,964 0 0 0 0 44,964 Rhode Island 3,014 0 0 0 0 3,014 South Carolina 12,929 3 0 0 0 12,932 South Dakota 782 868 0 0 0 1,650 Tennessee 18,147 0 0 0 0 18,147 Texas 43,625 0 0 0 0 43,625 Utah 2,176 404 0 3 0 2,583 Vermont 957 0 0 0 0 957 Virgin Islands 100 0 0 0 0 100 Virginia 10,739 0 0 0 0 10,739 Washington 13,894 915 0 0 0 14,809 West Virginia 6,752 0 0 0 0 6,752 Wisconsin 14,266 544 0 1 0 14,810 Wyoming 138 242 0 0 0 380 Total $892,761 $66,611 $0 $224 $0 $959,596 Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 30 2020 Monitoring Report 1 TLS is an abbreviation for toll limitation service. Notes: These dollars represent submitted claims to Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) for the time period January 2019 through December 2019, including true-ups reported through September 2020. Lifeline subscribers residing on Tribal lands also receive the basic support amount, which is currently $9.25 per subscriber for qualifying broadband service or $5.25 per subscriber for qualifying voice service. This amount is not included in Tribal support. For Link Up, the payments and subscribers for the two categories of recipients are kept separate. Source: Universal Service Administrative Company. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 31 2020 Monitoring Report Table 2.4 - Low-Income Claims Received by ILECs and Competitive ETCs (in Thousands of Dollars) ILECs Competitive ETCs Total Percent Competitive ETCs 1998 $464,207 $260 $464,467 0.1 % 1999 479,353 796 480,150 0.2 2000 517,901 1,128 519,029 0.2 2001 585,790 3,572 589,362 0.6 2002 663,009 13,097 676,106 1.9 2003 693,378 22,994 716,373 3.2 2004 723,580 39,349 762,929 5.2 2005 734,344 67,631 801,975 8.4 2006 707,135 99,933 807,068 12.4 2007 701,990 121,240 823,230 14.7 2008 674,805 147,017 821,823 17.9 2009 642,644 370,208 1,012,852 36.6 2010 595,604 722,136 1,317,740 54.8 2011 532,226 1,247,963 1,780,189 70.1 2012 450,652 1,732,928 2,183,580 79.4 2013 295,981 1,494,267 1,790,248 83.5 2014 224,012 1,405,762 1,629,774 86.3 2015 165,714 1,344,276 1,509,990 89.0 2016 133,988 1,387,439 1,521,426 91.2 2017 104,547 1,172,725 1,277,272 91.8 2018 79,360 1,059,887 1,139,248 93.0 2019 58,542 901,054 959,596 93.9 Notes: Competitive Eligible Telecommunications Carriers (ETC) include both wireless and wireline carriers. Data for 2013-2018 were updated to account for true-ups. Source: Universal Service Administrative Company. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 32 2020 Monitoring Report Table 2.5  Low-Income Claims by Program and by Affiliated Entities: 2019 (in Thousands of Dollars) Total Cumulative Lifeline Link Up Percent Rank Affiliated Entity Name 1 Low-Income Percent of Support Support of Total Support Total 1 SoftBank Corp. 2 $289,718 $0 $289,718 30.2% 30.2% 2 América Móvil 3 218,478 0 218,478 22.8 53.0 3 Quadrant Holdings Group LLC 158,699 0 158,699 16.5 69.5 4 TSC Acquisition Corporation 33,658 0 33,658 3.5 73.0 5 Telrite Corporation 31,054 0 31,054 3.2 76.2 6 Smith Bagley, Inc. 25,061 196 25,257 2.6 78.9 7 AT&T Inc. 20,839 0 20,839 2.2 81.0 8 Amerimex Communications Corporation 20,199 0 20,199 2.1 83.1 9 Assist Wireless, LLC 20,036 0 20,036 2.1 85.2 10 Global Connection Inc. of America 17,736 0 17,736 1.8 87.1 11 I-Wireless, LLC 16,182 0 16,182 1.7 88.8 12 Telecom Service Bureau, Inc. 12,229 0 12,229 1.3 90.0 13 Verizon Communications Inc. 8,953 0 8,953 0.9 91.0 14 GCI Holdings LLC 8,064 0 8,064 0.8 91.8 15 Frontier Communications Corporation 7,981 0 7,981 0.8 92.7 16 TerraCom/YourTel America 6,591 0 6,591 0.7 93.3 17 Boomerang Wireless, LLC 6,079 0 6,079 0.6 94.0 18 CenturyLink, Inc. 5,573 0 5,573 0.6 94.6 19 NewPhone Wireless, LLC 4,968 0 4,968 0.5 95.1 20 True Wireless, LLC 4,624 0 4,624 0.5 95.6 21 ATN International, Inc. 4,495 0 4,495 0.5 96.0 22 American Broadband and Telecommunications Comp 2,797 0 2,797 0.3 96.3 23 Cox Communications, Inc. 2,318 0 2,318 0.2 96.6 24 Windstream Holdings, Inc. 2,132 0 2,132 0.2 96.8 25 Cell Span, Inc. 1,444 0 1,444 0.2 96.9 26 North American Local, LLC 1,431 0 1,431 0.1 97.1 27 Cintex Wireless, LLC 1,157 0 1,157 0.1 97.2 28 Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. 1,151 0 1,151 0.1 97.3 29 Consolidated Communications, Inc. 1,080 0 1,080 0.1 97.4 30 Air Voice Inc. 981 0 981 0.1 97.5 Other Carriers 23,664 28 23,692 2.5 100.0 All Affiliated Entities $959,372 $224 $959,596 100.0% 100.0% 1 Affiliated entities include all commonly controlled or commonly owned affiliates as of year-end 2019. 2 In 2019, SoftBank Corp. owned Sprint and Virgin Mobile USA. 3 América Móvil owns TracFone Wireless. Source: Universal Service Administrative Company. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 33 2020 Monitoring Report Table 2.6  Total Monthly Lifeline Subscribers Since January 2015 Subscribers (in Thousands) Percent of Subscribers that are Wireless Non-Tribal Non-Tribal Month Tribal Lifeline Total Lifeline Tribal Lifeline Total Lifeline Lifeline Lifeline January-15 435 11,183 11,618 82 % 86 % 86 % February-15 429 11,230 11,659 82 86 86 March-15 426 11,364 11,790 82 86 86 April-15 421 11,526 11,947 81 87 86 May-15 412 11,804 12,216 81 87 87 June-15 417 12,020 12,437 82 87 87 July-15 422 12,320 12,741 82 88 88 August-15 415 12,571 12,986 82 88 88 September-15 416 12,777 13,193 82 89 88 October-15 411 12,889 13,300 83 89 89 November-15 405 12,862 13,267 84 89 89 December-15 406 12,831 13,237 84 89 89 January-16 391 12,394 12,785 84 89 89 February-16 391 12,362 12,753 84 89 89 March-16 397 12,434 12,831 84 89 89 April-16 402 12,566 12,967 85 90 90 May-16 405 12,636 13,041 85 90 90 June-16 349 12,726 13,075 86 90 90 July-16 338 12,790 13,128 86 90 90 August-16 332 12,428 12,761 86 90 90 September-16 332 12,493 12,825 88 91 91 October-16 334 12,397 12,731 88 91 91 November-16 327 12,187 12,514 89 91 91 December-16 317 11,672 11,989 89 91 91 January-17 300 11,041 11,341 89 91 91 February-17 301 10,883 11,184 89 91 91 March-17 301 10,721 11,022 88 91 91 April-17 297 10,513 10,810 88 90 90 May-17 298 10,461 10,759 88 91 90 June-17 298 10,481 10,778 89 91 91 July-17 292 10,385 10,677 89 91 91 August-17 290 10,287 10,577 89 91 91 September-17 287 10,210 10,498 89 91 91 October-17 285 10,276 10,561 90 91 91 November-17 283 10,182 10,465 90 91 91 December-17 282 10,087 10,370 90 92 91 January-18 279 10,024 10,303 90 92 92 February-18 277 9,912 10,189 90 92 92 March-18 271 9,823 10,094 90 92 92 April-18 268 9,602 9,870 90 92 92 May-18 261 9,456 9,717 90 92 92 June-18 259 9,336 9,594 90 92 92 July-18 257 9,184 9,441 90 92 92 August-18 250 9,079 9,329 90 92 92 September-18 250 9,030 9,281 90 92 92 October-18 243 9,010 9,254 90 93 93 November-18 243 8,857 9,100 90 93 93 December-18 233 8,793 9,026 89 93 93 January-19 233 8,762 8,994 89 93 93 February-19 235 8,649 8,884 90 93 93 March-19 226 8,579 8,805 89 93 93 April-19 225 8,501 8,726 89 93 93 May-19 225 8,444 8,669 90 93 93 June-19 227 8,369 8,596 90 93 93 July-19 227 8,200 8,426 90 94 93 August-19 229 7,267 7,495 90 93 93 September-19 231 6,754 6,986 90 92 92 October-19 230 6,941 7,170 90 93 93 November-19 228 6,823 7,051 90 93 93 December-19 228 6,696 6,924 90 93 93 January-20 220 6,493 6,713 92 93 93 February-20 221 6,482 6,703 92 93 93 March-20 226 6,553 6,778 91 93 93 April-20 229 6,767 6,996 91 93 93 May-20 215 6,969 7,184 91 94 93 June-20 220 7,050 7,271 91 94 94 Source: Universal Service Administration Company. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 34 2020 Monitoring Report Table 2.7  Lifeline De-Enrollments or Scheduled De-Enrollments Recertification by State in 2019 (in Thousands) As a result of ETC As a result of attempt by State Administrator, ETC State Total recertification attempt1 Access to Eligibility Data, or USAC2 Alabama 32 1 32 Alaska 2 0 2 American Samoa 0 0 0 Arizona 22 2 25 Arkansas 18 1 18 California 0 696 696 Colorado 0 0 0 Connecticut 11 0 11 Delaware 1 0 1 District of Columbia 1 0 1 Florida 60 2 62 Georgia 33 1 33 Guam 0 0 0 Hawaii 0 0 0 Idaho 0 0 0 Illinois 20 1 20 Indiana 9 0 9 Iowa 5 1 6 Kansas 6 1 7 Kentucky 11 1 12 Louisiana 32 1 33 Maine 1 1 2 Maryland 14 0 14 Massachusetts 18 3 21 Michigan 19 0 19 Minnesota 10 2 12 Mississippi 0 0 0 Missouri 0 1 1 Montana 0 0 0 Nebraska 0 0 0 Nevada 2 11 13 New Hampshire 0 0 0 New Jersey 18 0 18 New Mexico 0 0 0 New York 77 12 89 North Carolina 1 0 1 North Dakota 0 0 0 Northern Mariana Island 0 0 0 Ohio 60 4 64 Oklahoma 23 44 67 Oregon 0 3 3 Pennsylvania 1 1 2 Puerto Rico 84 25 109 Rhode Island 1 0 1 South Carolina 17 2 19 South Dakota 0 0 0 Tennessee 1 0 1 Texas 0 92 92 Utah 0 0 0 Vermont 0 1 1 Virgin Islands 0 0 0 Virginia 17 0 17 Washington 23 3 25 West Virginia 8 0 8 Wisconsin 24 0 24 Wyoming 0 0 0 Total 684 915 1,598 1 Section G of the 2019 FCC Form 555. 2 Section K of the 2019 FCC Form 555. Source: Universal Service Administrative Company. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 35 2020 Monitoring Report Table 2.8  Low-Income Subscribers by State in 2019 by Facilities Type of Carrier (in Thousands) Non-Tribal Tribal All State Facilities-Based Facilities-Based Facilities-Based Total Total Total No Ye s No Ye s No Ye s Alabama 38 61 99 # # # 39 61 100 Alaska 0 # # 0 23 23 0 23 23 American Samoa 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 Arizona 77 40 117 # 41 41 77 81 158 Arkansas 52 26 77 0 # # 52 26 77 California 793 675 1,468 # # # 793 675 1,468 Colorado 37 19 56 0 0 0 37 19 56 Connecticut 29 41 70 0 0 0 29 41 70 Delaware 5 12 17 0 0 0 5 12 17 District of Columbia 9 4 13 0 0 0 9 4 13 Florida 181 331 511 0 0 0 181 331 511 Georgia 208 73 281 0 0 0 208 73 281 Guam 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 Hawaii 6 2 7 # 0 # 6 2 8 Idaho 10 4 13 # # # 10 4 14 Illinois 129 90 219 0 0 0 129 90 219 Indiana 107 44 151 0 0 0 107 44 151 Iowa 35 12 47 # 0 # 35 12 47 Kansas 33 6 39 # # # 33 6 39 Kentucky 117 19 136 0 0 0 117 19 136 Louisiana 154 34 189 # 0 # 154 34 189 Maine 16 6 22 0 # # 16 6 22 Maryland 92 50 142 0 0 0 92 50 142 Massachusetts 43 81 124 0 0 0 43 81 124 Michigan 185 130 315 # # # 185 130 315 Minnesota 48 19 68 1 2 2 49 21 70 Mississippi 23 36 59 1 0 1 24 36 60 Missouri 79 15 94 0 # # 79 15 94 Montana 0 1 1 0 3 3 0 4 4 Nebraska 1 4 5 0 # # 1 4 5 Nevada 47 29 76 # # 1 47 29 76 New Hampshire 6 3 9 0 0 0 6 3 9 New Jersey 53 119 172 0 0 0 53 119 172 New Mexico 10 40 50 0 31 31 10 71 80 New York 233 407 641 0 # # 233 407 641 North Carolina 77 110 187 0 # # 77 110 187 North Dakota # 3 3 # 2 2 # 5 5 Northern Mariana Islands 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 2 2 Ohio 239 122 361 0 0 0 239 122 361 Oklahoma 35 2 37 103 10 113 138 12 150 Oregon 2 46 48 # # # 2 46 48 Pennsylvania 259 98 357 0 0 0 259 98 357 Puerto Rico 343 62 405 0 0 0 343 62 405 Rhode Island 11 16 27 0 0 0 11 16 27 South Carolina 74 43 117 # # # 74 43 117 South Dakota # 3 4 0 3 3 # 7 7 Tennessee 80 84 164 0 0 0 80 84 164 Texas 234 159 394 0 0 0 234 159 394 Utah 13 5 18 # 1 1 13 7 20 Vermont 5 3 9 0 0 0 5 3 9 Virgin Islands # 1 1 0 0 0 # 1 1 Virginia 49 48 97 0 0 0 49 48 97 Washington 91 31 122 2 1 3 93 32 125 West Virginia 48 13 61 0 0 0 48 13 61 Wisconsin 108 19 127 # 1 2 108 21 129 Wyoming # # # 1 # 1 1 # 1 Total 4,524 3,308 7,832 110 119 229 4,633 3,427 8,061 Non-facilities-based carriers have either submitted a compliance plan with the FCC that they are not a facilities-based provider or have been approved to be a non-facilities-based provider by the FCC. Other carriers are assumed to be facilities-based. Notes: # Indicates > 0 subscribers and less than 500 Source: Universal Service Administrative Company. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 36 2020 Monitoring Report Table 2.9  Lifeline Subscribers by Type of Service: March 2020 Subscribers (in Thousands) Percentage Broadband Broadban State Voice Bundle Total Voice Bundle Only d Only Alabama 11 39 23 73 15 % 54 % 31 % Alaska 2 # 18 20 13 1 87 American Samoa # 0 # # 48 0 52 Arizona 7 91 58 155 4 58 37 Arkansas 4 36 28 68 6 53 42 California 234 2 1,136 1,372 17 0 83 Colorado 4 44 3 52 8 86 6 Connecticut 7 37 20 64 11 58 31 Delaware 1 7 3 12 12 61 27 District of Columbia 1 8 6 15 10 54 36 Florida 42 193 115 349 12 55 33 Georgia 15 163 59 237 6 69 25 Guam 1 # 0 1 99 1 0 Hawaii 1 4 1 6 19 66 16 Idaho 1 6 # 7 14 81 5 Illinois 14 77 84 176 8 44 48 Indiana 7 83 19 110 7 76 18 Iowa 5 24 13 42 13 56 31 Kansas 3 23 8 34 9 68 22 Kentucky 8 57 43 108 8 53 39 Louisiana 7 93 65 166 4 56 39 Maine 6 6 5 17 32 37 32 Maryland 6 78 40 125 5 63 32 Massachusetts 22 50 28 101 22 49 28 Michigan 20 154 44 218 9 71 20 Minnesota 12 42 9 63 19 67 14 Mississippi 5 30 15 49 9 61 30 Missouri 5 62 10 76 6 80 14 Montana 1 # # 1 60 14 26 Nebraska 3 1 0 3 71 14 14 Nevada 4 46 11 61 6 76 18 New Hampshire 1 2 2 4 21 35 44 New Jersey 26 66 36 128 21 51 28 New Mexico 8 20 39 67 12 30 58 New York 115 213 143 471 24 45 30 North Carolina 21 48 50 119 18 40 42 North Dakota 2 1 1 4 54 28 18 Northern Mariana Island # # 1 1 11 1 88 Ohio 23 224 54 301 8 74 18 Oklahoma 21 69 62 153 14 45 41 Oregon 12 26 1 40 30 66 4 Pennsylvania 29 176 75 279 10 63 27 Puerto Rico 14 105 323 442 3 24 73 Rhode Island 2 14 2 18 12 75 12 South Carolina 10 71 20 101 10 70 20 South Dakota 3 2 1 5 59 29 12 Tennessee 17 34 50 101 17 33 50 Texas 36 188 130 354 10 53 37 Utah 1 10 3 15 12 66 23 Vermont 2 5 # 8 29 66 5 Virgin Islands 0 0 # # 0 0 100 Virginia 14 41 36 91 15 45 39 Washington 13 75 22 110 12 68 20 West Virginia 4 33 19 56 7 60 34 Wisconsin 11 73 27 112 10 65 25 Wyoming # # # # 71 2 27 Total 850 2,959 2,970 6,778 13 % 44 % 44 % 1 # Indicates > 0 subscribers and less than 500 2 Voice: Subscriber is provided a service that meets only the voice minimum service standards (mobile voice service with at least 1,000 minutes per month, or fixed voice service with any number of minutes) 3 Broadband Only: Subscriber is provided a service that meets only the broadband minimum service standards (3G speed and 3 GB usage allowance for wireless providers; 20/3 Mbps speed and 1,024 GB usage allowance for wireline providers.) 4 Bundle: Subscriber is provided a service that meets both the voice and broadband minimum service standards. Source: Universal Service Administrative Company. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 37 2020 Monitoring Report Section 3  Connect America Fund (High Cost) Program Federal universal service High-Cost Support is designed to ensure that consumers in rural, insular, and high-cost areas have access to modern communications networks capable of providing voice and broadband service, both fixed and mobile, at rates that are reasonably comparable to those in urban areas. The program fulfills this universal service goal by allowing eligible carriers who serve these areas to recover some of their costs from the federal USF. In 2011, the Commission adopted the USF/ICC Transformation Order, which comprehensively reformed and modernized the high-cost program to support networks capable of providing both voice and broadband services.3 Among other actions taken in the USF/ICC Transformation Order, the Commission adopted a framework, known as the Connect America Fund (CAF).4 For price-cap areas (those areas of the United States and its territories historically served by larger incumbent local exchange carriers (ILEC)), there are several CAF programs: CAF Phase I (completed); CAF Phase II (model-based support), CAF Intercarrier Compensation (CAF ICC), the Rural Broadband Experiments, frozen support for the Alaska price cap carrier, Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund and the Connect USVI Fund, and the CAF Phase II auction. In January 2020, the Commission established the new Rural Digital Opportunity Fund as a successor to the CAF Phase II (model-based support) program.5 Through a two-phase reverse auction mechanism, the FCC will direct up to $20.4 billion over ten years to finance up to gigabit speed broadband networks in unserved rural areas, connecting millions more American homes and businesses to digital opportunity. The first phase auction commenced on October 29, 2020. For rate-of-return areas (typically the more rural parts of the United States), the Commission established two paths for providers to receive high-cost support for building, supporting and maintaining voice and broadband networks  1) model-based support as determined by the Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) or 2) legacy cost-based mechanisms as reformed to allow support for standalone broadband connections.6 The Commission also created an Alaska Plan to fund voice and broadband services for rate-of-return carriers serving Alaska, due to their unique challenges.7 3 USF/ICC Transformation Order. 4 See Connect America Fund (CAF) https://www.fcc.gov/general/connect-america-fund-caf. 5 See generally Rural Digital Opportunity Fund; Connect America Fund, Order, 35 FCC Rcd 686 (2020) (Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Order). 6 See Connect America Fund; ETC Annual Reports and Certifications; Establishing Just and Reasonable Rates for Local Exchange Carriers; Developing a Unified Intercarrier Compensation Regime; WC Docket Nos. 10-90, 14-58, and 07-135, CC Docket No. 01-92; Report and Order, Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, and Order on Reconsideration, FCC 18-176 (rel. Dec. 12, 2018). 7 Connect America Fund et al., Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 31 FCC Rcd 10139, 10142, para. 6 (2016) (Alaska Plan Order). Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 38 2020 Monitoring Report As in the 2019 Report, all support dollar values in these tables reflect claims8 as opposed to disbursements.9 These claims are subject to true-ups. True-ups are reflected in the relevant support year, not in the year made. Data on changes in local exchange carriers and High-Cost ILEC support data by study area are available at http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/neca-usac-data-0. Please note that the information provided in this report is based upon the program rules through June 30, 2020. 8 A  claim is the distribution of funds in support of a specified time period. These funds were distributed in that period and possibly a later time period. The disbursements in later time periods are the result of true-ups to resolve differences between initial payments and disbursements necessitated by revisions to supporting data made at that later date. Claims are positive values with the possible exceptions of CAF Intercarrier Compensation (CAF ICC) support and Connect America Cost Model (CACM) support. CAF ICC claims can be negative when a study area s actual access recovery charge revenues in the prior two years substantially exceed the forecasted amount. Some CACM initial claims were negative as a result of true-ups when Frozen High Cost support exceeded CACM support. 9 A  disbursement is the distribution of funds in a specified time period. These funds were distributed in support of high-cost mechanisms in that period and possibly in support of earlier time periods. The disbursements in support of earlier time periods are the result of true-ups to resolve differences between initial payments and disbursements necessitated by revisions to supporting data. It is possible for disbursements to be negative, thus requiring the recipient to return dollars to the high-cost fund. Some negative disbursements are penalties (see the file  HC Penalties in the Supplementary Material). Penalties are not included in claims. Because carriers chose ACAM II in the middle of 2019 but then received ACAM II support for the whole calendar year, these carriers disbursement data for the first part of the year shows legacy support payments (i.e., HCLS, BLS and SVS), which were then offset against their ACAM payments for the same portion of the year in their August ACAM prior period adjustments. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 39 2020 Monitoring Report Table 3.1  High-Cost Support Fund Claim History (in Millions of Dollars) Rate-of- A-CAM / AK Legacy Price Cap Competitive Total Ye ar Return ILEC Total Plan Carrie rs Carrie rs Carrie rs ETC Total Support Carrie rs 2009 $ 0 $ 1,850 $ 1,850 $ 1,183 $ 3,033 $ 1,299 $ 4,332 2010 0 1,928 1,928 1,108 3,036 1,242 4,278 2011 0 1,957 1,957 1,029 2,986 1,156 4,142 2012 0 1,966 1,966 1,197 3,163 967 4,130 2013 0 2,019 2,019 1,341 3,360 782 4,142 2014 0 2,047 2,047 1,115 3,162 608 3,769 2015 0 2,059 2,059 1,849 3,908 615 4,524 2016 0 2,072 2,072 1,848 3,920 674 4,593 2017 794 1,615 2,409 1,793 4,202 645 4,847 2018 784 1,671 2,455 1,736 4,191 509 4,700 2019 1,437 1,263 2,700 1,661 4,361 547 4,908 2020* 1,419 1,310 2,730 1,621 4,350 670 5,020 Notes: Details may not appear to add up to totals due to rounding. Data for 2012 - 2019 were updated to account for true-ups. A-CAM is an abbreviation for Alternative Connect America Model. ILEC is an abbreviation for Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier. Competitive ETC is an abbreviation for Competitive Eligible Telecommunication Carrier. Source: Universal Service Administrative Company filings to the FCC with prior-period adjustments through July 2020. * FCC Staff Estimate. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 40 2020 Monitoring Report Table 3.2  High-Cost Support Fund Claim History  Rate of Return (in Millions of Dollars) CAF-ICC Alternative Alternative Safety Net Local CAF-ICC Broadband High-Cost Safety Valve from A-CAM Connect Connect Alaska Total Ye ar Additive Switching from Legacy Loop Loop Support Support / AK Plan America America Plan Support Support Support Carrie rs 2 Support1 Carrie rs 2 Model Model II 2009 $ 798 $ 29 $ 5 $ 239 $ 0 $ 0 $ 780 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 1,850 2010 817 49 6 226 0 0 830 0 0 0 1,928 2011 806 65 6 218 0 0 862 0 0 0 1,957 2012 791 48 6 110 0 169 842 0 0 0 1,966 2013 767 31 6 0 0 344 870 0 0 0 2,019 2014 746 28 5 0 0 359 909 0 0 0 2,047 2015 716 20 5 0 0 377 941 0 0 0 2,059 2016 691 12 5 0 0 395 969 0 0 0 2,072 2017 556 4 5 0 149 244 806 591 0 54 2,409 2018 577 0 5 0 146 244 844 584 0 54 2,455 2019 415 0 2 0 218 171 676 643 521 54 2,700 2020* 387 0 1 0 214 171 752 637 514 54 2,730 1 Interstate Common Line Support was expanded to include standalone broadband in January 2017 and became Connect America Fund Broadband Loop Support (CAF BLS). 2 Intercarrier Compensation was divided into ACAM/AK and Legacy categories. ACAM is defined as Alternative Connect America Cost Model. Note: Details may not appear to add up to totals due to rounding. Data for 2012 - 2019 were updated to account for true-ups. Source: Universal Service Administrative Company filings to the FCC with prior-period adjustments through July 2020. * FCC Staff Estimate. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 41 2020 Monitoring Report Table 3.3  High-Cost Support Fund Claim History  Price Cap (in Millions of Dollars) Connect Interstate High-Cost Safety Net High-Cost Interstate Local Froze n Inte rcarrie r America Incremental Common CAF II Total Ye ar Loop Additive Model Access Switching High-Cost Compensation Cost Support Line Auction Support Support Support Support Support Support Support1 Support Model Support 2009 $ 209 $ 9 $ 169 $ 456 $ 50 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 290 $ 0 $ 1,183 2010 145 11 156 455 61 0 0 0 0 280 0 1,108 2011 100 11 145 441 63 0 0 0 0 270 0 1,029 2012 0 0 0 0 0 1,037 44 0 112 3 0 1,197 2013 0 0 0 0 0 1,034 87 0 220 0 0 1,341 2014 0 0 0 0 0 1,035 69 0 11 0 0 1,115 2015 0 0 0 0 0 641 49 1,159 0 0 0 1,849 2016 0 0 0 0 0 162 38 1,648 0 0 0 1,848 2017 0 0 0 0 0 173 30 1,590 0 0 0 1,793 2018 0 0 0 0 0 170 22 1,544 0 0 0 1,736 2019 0 0 0 0 0 125 15 1,518 0 0 3 1,661 2020* 0 0 0 0 0 86 12 1,518 0 0 5 1,621 1 Hurricane support for Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands is included in Frozen High-Cost Support. Source: Universal Service Administrative Company filings to the FCC with prior-period adjustments through July 2020. Note: Details may not appear to add up to totals due to rounding. Data for 2012-2019 were updated to account for true-ups. * FCC Staff Estimate. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 42 2020 Monitoring Report Table 3.4  High-Cost Support Fund Claim History  Competitive Eligible Telecommunications Carriers (in Millions of Dollars) Safety Interstate High-Cost Safety Interstate Local Froze n Remote Mobility Rural PR / Net High-Cost Common Alaska CAF II Total Ye ar Loop Valve Access Switching High-Cost Alaska Fund Phase Broadband USVI Additive Model Line Plan Auction Support Support Support Support Support Support1 Support I Support Experiments Fund2 Support Support 2009 $ 391 $ 14 $ 0 $ 159 $ 110 $ 100 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 524 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 1,299 2010 358 17 1 155 94 95 0 0 0 0 521 0 0 0 1,242 2011 307 21 2 146 81 90 0 0 0 0 508 0 0 0 1,156 2012 0 0 0 0 0 0 889 78 0 0 0 0 0 0 967 2013 0 0 0 0 0 0 629 79 74 0 0 0 0 0 782 2014 0 0 0 0 0 0 525 79 4 0 0 0 0 0 608 2015 0 0 0 0 0 0 513 78 16 8 0 0 0 0 615 2016 0 0 0 0 0 0 508 78 85 3 0 0 0 0 674 2017 0 0 0 0 0 0 537 0 31 3 0 74 0 0 645 2018 0 0 0 0 0 0 429 0 3 3 0 74 0 0 509 2019 0 0 0 0 0 0 398 0 7 3 0 74 65 0 547 2020* 0 0 0 0 0 0 393 0 0 3 0 74 147 53 670 1 Hurricane support for Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands is included in Frozen High-Cost Support. 2 This column includes the Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund and the Connect USVI Fund. Note: Details may not appear to add up to totals due to rounding. Data for 2012-2019 were updated to account for true-ups. Source: Universal Service Administrative Company filings to the FCC with prior-period adjustments through July 2020. * FCC Staff Estimate. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 43 2020 Monitoring Report Table 3.5  High-Cost Support Fund Claims  States: 2019 (in Thousands of Dollars) Rate-of-Return Price-Cap ILEC CETC Total CETC State Carrie rs Carrie rs Total Total Support Share Alabama $ 41,550 $ 44,000 $ 85,549 $ 5,145 $ 90,694 6 % Alaska 75,433 19,694 95,127 83,795 178,922 47 American Samoa 1,789 0 1,789 1,619 3,408 48 Arizona 49,161 23,370 72,531 7,203 79,734 9 Arkansas 56,433 54,378 110,811 6,420 117,231 5 California 47,203 98,344 145,547 7,234 152,782 5 Colorado 29,710 26,990 56,700 6,617 63,317 10 Connecticut 0 435 435 0 435 0 Delaware 0 210 210 69 279 25 Florida 8,365 36,334 44,699 3,216 47,915 7 Georgia 66,052 51,213 117,265 345 117,610 0 Guam 6,552 0 6,552 5,328 11,880 45 Hawaii 0 7,148 7,148 0 7,148 0 Idaho 38,731 11,505 50,236 3,376 53,611 6 Illinois 62,368 50,616 112,984 11,667 124,651 9 Indiana 66,986 51,128 118,114 1,412 119,527 1 Iowa 138,902 54,204 193,105 30,105 223,211 13 Kansas 116,487 35,807 152,294 23,153 175,447 13 Kentucky 80,411 55,236 135,647 16,232 151,879 11 Louisiana 20,479 37,379 57,858 24,324 82,181 30 Maine 14,453 13,615 28,069 6,739 34,808 19 Maryland 1,298 2,276 3,573 394 3,967 10 Massachusetts 717 1,541 2,258 31 2,289 1 Michigan 50,595 60,513 111,108 6,407 117,515 5 Minnesota 154,117 87,874 241,991 3,650 245,641 1 Mississippi 25,754 53,557 79,311 87,432 166,743 52 Missouri 84,301 91,664 175,965 14,841 190,806 8 Montana 118,292 16,310 134,602 5,106 139,709 4 Nebraska 84,400 23,328 107,728 13,365 121,093 11 Nevada 14,086 2,452 16,538 2,114 18,652 11 New Hampshire 7,458 4,440 11,897 131 12,028 1 New Jersey 588 667 1,255 0 1,255 0 New Mexico 66,268 17,839 84,107 4,071 88,177 5 New York 26,930 30,835 57,765 3,482 61,247 6 North Carolina 51,794 19,396 71,190 1,829 73,019 3 North Dakota 140,914 5,657 146,571 25,803 172,374 15 Northern Mariana Islands 0 2,627 2,627 581 3,209 18 Ohio 24,432 59,403 83,835 547 84,382 1 Oklahoma 119,444 8,231 127,674 29,887 157,562 19 Oregon 51,908 21,657 73,565 11,736 85,301 14 Pennsylvania 17,563 41,433 58,996 1,616 60,612 3 Puerto Rico 0 36,054 36,054 9,741 45,795 21 Rhode Island 0 88 88 0 88 0 South Carolina 104,259 16,317 120,576 1,582 122,159 1 South Dakota 114,819 9,117 123,936 2,531 126,467 2 Tennessee 62,372 29,927 92,299 1,016 93,315 1 Texas 185,805 93,383 279,188 14,006 293,194 5 Utah 39,086 4,442 43,528 360 43,887 1 Vermont 13,121 8,818 21,939 0 21,939 0 Virgin Islands 0 16,387 16,387 67 16,454 0 Virginia 35,494 42,577 78,071 7,188 85,259 8 Washington 30,360 36,041 66,401 19,077 85,478 22 West Virginia 12,470 38,068 50,538 8,268 58,807 14 Wisconsin 109,363 95,439 204,801 19,201 224,002 9 Wyoming 31,028 11,006 42,034 6,753 48,787 14 United States 2,700,100 1,660,969 4,361,069 546,815 4,907,884 11 Notes: Details may not appear to add up to totals due to rounding. Source: Universal Service Administrative Company filings to the FCC with prior-period adjustments through July 2020. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 44 2020 Monitoring Report Table 3.6  Annual High-Cost Fund Support Claims  Affiliates: 2016  2019 (in Millions of Dollars) Competitive Rank Affiliate's Name 1 2017 2018 2019 Total ETC's Share 2 1 AT&T Inc. $ 612 $ 557 $ 548 $ 1,716 24 % 2 CenturyLink, Inc. 545 530 516 1,591 0 3 Frontier Communications Corporation 361 350 339 1,050 0 4 Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. 208 208 211 626 46 5 Windstream Holdings, Inc. 202 190 180 572 0 6 Verizon Communications Inc.3 80 80 72 231 28 7 GCI Holdings LLC 85 68 68 221 92 8 Consolidated Communications, Inc. 77 67 60 204 0 9 América Móvil 95 52 36 183 22 10 Telapex, Inc.4 54 54 55 164 84 11 Pioneer Telephone Cooperative (OK) 34 34 37 105 25 12 Golden West Telecommunications Cooperative, Inc. 32 35 38 104 0 13 LICT Corporation 31 31 36 97 0 14 Rural Telephone Service/Golden Belt 30 31 30 91 37 15 Triangle Telephone Cooperative Assn., Inc. 27 28 28 83 0 1 This column refers to  affiliate name rather than  holding company so as to include all entities under common ownership or control, to the extent this information is readily available to the Commission. In most cases, the  affiliate name is reported by the entity or entities in FCC Form 477. 2 In the USF/ICC Transformation Order, the Commission eliminated the rule providing identical support to competitive ETCs, determining the rule did not provide an  appropriate level of support for the efficient deployment of mobile services in areas that do not support a private business case for mobile voice and broadband. Connect America Fund et al., WC Docket No. 10-90 et al., Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 26 FCC Rcd 17666, 17851-59, para. 502 (2011), aff d In re: FCC 11-161, 753 F.3d 1015 (10th Cir. 2014). The Commission, however, transitioned the elimination of that support over five years, beginning on July 1, 2012. See USF/ICC Transformation Order, 26 FCC Rcd at 17853, para. 513. This phase down of support for competitive ETCs was halted at 40 percent on June 30, 2014 under the terms adopted in the USF/ICC Transformation Order because the Mobility Fund Phase II is not yet operational. See id. at 17832, para. 519. 3 Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel, in separate transactions in 2008, each committed to phase down their competitive ETC high-cost universal service support in 20 percent increments over five years, beginning in 2009. These commitments were not implemented until the Commission released an Order on August 31, 2010 providing guidance to the Universal Service Administrative Company regarding the methodology to implement those commitments. See High-Cost Universal Service Support, Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, Request for Review of Decision of Universal Service Administrator by Corr Wireless Communications, LLC, WC Docket No. 05-337, CC Docket No. 96-45, Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 25 FCC Rcd 12854 (2010). To the extent that Verizon Wireless received support prior to the August 31, 2010 Order that should have been surrendered under its commitment, USAC reclaimed that support in 2010 and 2011. 4 Telapex, Inc. owns C Spire Wireless. Source: Universal Service Administrative Company. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 45 2020 Monitoring Report Table 3.7  High-Cost Support Fund Claims  Affiliates: 2019 (in Millions of Dollars) Rate-of- Competive Price-Cap ILEC Total Competitive Rank Affiliate's Name 1 Return ETC Carrie rs Support Support ETC's Share 2 Carrie rs Support 1 AT&T Inc. $ 0 $ 428 $ 428 $ 120 $ 548 22 % 2 CenturyLink, Inc. 0 516 516 0 516 0 3 Frontier Communications Corporation 0 339 339 0 339 0 4 Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. 115 0 115 95 211 45 5 Windstream Holdings, Inc. 0 180 180 0 180 0 6 Verizon Communications Inc. 0 50 50 22 72 30 7 GCI Holdings LLC 6 0 6 62 68 91 8 Consolidated Communications, Inc. 0 60 60 0 60 0 9 Telapex, Inc. 9 0 9 46 55 84 10 Golden West Telecommunications Cooperative, Inc. 38 0 38 0 38 0 11 Pioneer Telephone Cooperative (OK) 28 0 28 9 37 24 12 LICT Corporation 36 0 36 0 36 0 13 América Móvil 0 36 36 0 36 0 14 Rural Telephone Service/Golden Belt 19 0 19 11 30 37 15 Hargray Communications Group, Inc. 30 0 30 0 30 0 16 Triangle Telephone Cooperative Assn., Inc. 28 0 28 0 28 0 17 Arvig Enterprises, Inc. 28 0 28 0 28 0 18 3 Rivers Telephone Cooperative, Inc. 26 0 26 0 26 0 19 Farmers Telephone Cooperative, Inc. (SC) 23 0 23 2 25 6 20 Great Plains Communications, Inc. 23 0 23 0 23 0 21 Range Telephone Cooperative, Inc. 23 0 23 0 23 0 22 ATN International, Inc. 0 16 16 6 22 26 23 ENMR Telephone Cooperative, Inc. 22 0 22 0 22 0 24 Nemont Telephone Cooperative, Inc. 17 0 17 4 21 19 25 American Broadband Communications et al. 20 0 20 1 21 4 1 This column refers to  affiliate name rather than  holding company to include all entities under common ownership or control, to the extent this information is readily available to the Commission. In most cases, the  affiliate name is reported by the entity or entities in FCC Form 477. 2 See Table 3.6 n.2. Notes: Details may not add up due to rounding. Source: Universal Service Administrative Company filings to the FCC with prior-period adjustments through July 2020. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 46 2020 Monitoring Report Section 4  E-Rate (Schools and Libraries) The Schools and Libraries universal service support program, commonly known as the E-Rate program, helps schools and libraries obtain affordable broadband Internet access, internal network connections, and telecommunications services. Eligible schools, school districts, and libraries may apply individually or as part of a consortium. Funding may be requested under two categories of eligible services: category one services to a school or library (e.g., data transmission services and Internet access), and category two services that deliver Internet access within schools and libraries (e.g., internal connections, basic maintenance of internal connections, and managed internal broadband services). Discounts for support depend on the level of poverty, as calculated by eligibility for a free or reduced-price lunch or other federally approved alternative mechanism, and whether the school or library is located in an urban or rural area. The discounts range from 20% to 90% of the costs of eligible services. E-Rate program funding is based on demand up to an annual Commission-established cap, which is $4.226 billion for funding year 2020 and is adjusted annually for inflation. The E-Rate program is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) under the direction of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Specifically, USAC is responsible for processing the applications for support, confirming eligibility, and reimbursing service providers and eligible schools and libraries for the discounted services. USAC also verifies that the applicants and service providers comply with the E-Rate rules and procedures established by the FCC. Additional information about the E-Rate program can be found on the Commission s website at https://www.fcc.gov/general/e-rate-schools-libraries-usf-program and on USAC s website at https://www.usac.org/e-rate//. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 47 2020 Monitoring Report Table 4.1  Schools and Libraries Funding Commitments and Disbursements by Applicant Type and Year (in Thousands of Dollars) Funding Commitments Funding Disbursements Total School Statewide Other Total School Statewide Other Year Commitments Libraries 1 Schools Districts Contract 2 Consortia Disbursements Libraries 1 Schools Districts Contract 2 Consortia 1998 $1,698,778 $65,987 $110,684 $1,288,206 $0 $233,900 $1,398,987 $49,883 $83,265 $1,069,746 $0 $196,092 1999 2,147,082 66,163 180,734 1,597,613 - 302,572 1,650,017 47,457 140,129 1,265,908 - 196,523 2000 2,078,438 65,879 110,783 1,691,966 - 209,810 1,646,968 43,544 88,513 1,384,089 - 130,821 2001 2,169,963 57,819 164,445 1,733,354 - 214,345 1,695,676 42,052 117,472 1,400,484 - 135,668 2002 2,107,121 62,925 164,100 1,630,161 - 249,935 1,594,220 42,697 106,183 1,283,166 - 162,174 2003 2,518,587 63,302 199,222 1,997,842 - 258,220 1,937,523 44,467 136,108 1,584,474 - 172,475 2004 2,025,955 54,291 158,604 1,563,304 - 249,756 1,535,250 39,775 107,119 1,208,831 - 179,525 2005 2,007,889 54,498 152,493 1,586,190 - 214,708 1,623,445 48,598 111,789 1,285,217 - 177,840 2006 1,948,799 59,711 129,351 1,499,391 - 260,346 1,566,497 46,138 96,193 1,220,579 - 203,587 2007 2,356,789 60,628 174,679 1,877,901 - 243,582 1,953,333 47,964 135,868 1,561,234 - 208,267 2008 2,373,781 75,771 150,638 1,888,356 - 259,017 1,926,508 58,095 114,132 1,532,846 - 221,436 2009 2,806,529 84,697 195,343 2,261,665 - 264,825 2,332,700 69,193 154,079 1,882,940 - 226,488 2010 2,997,684 91,214 211,098 2,411,430 - 283,942 2,449,770 71,883 157,065 1,980,705 - 240,117 2011 2,663,306 94,687 218,118 2,036,792 - 313,708 2,151,156 73,125 162,119 1,666,982 - 248,930 2012 2,965,927 96,106 288,213 2,281,169 12,130 288,308 2,371,410 77,667 205,778 1,841,360 8,790 237,816 2013 2,199,802 91,579 134,926 1,668,201 20,209 284,887 1,753,300 75,378 97,639 1,341,933 10,809 227,542 2014 2,345,836 93,521 158,999 1,773,237 38,370 281,709 1,857,076 78,974 115,142 1,412,678 27,445 222,838 2015 3,235,004 108,313 180,276 2,594,751 24,848 326,817 2,768,321 90,799 132,166 2,255,668 23,889 265,799 2016 2,778,722 98,547 120,516 2,185,594 - 374,065 2,337,586 83,234 95,916 1,879,851 - 278,586 2017 2,371,646 86,349 112,657 1,833,144 - 339,496 1,948,036 73,314 88,572 1,531,189 - 254,960 2018 2,300,347 81,615 104,201 1,667,594 - 446,937 1,793,728 64,242 80,779 1,366,834 - 281,872 2019 2,343,397 87,981 111,480 1,827,577 - 316,359 1,075,003 41,608 59,040 881,186 - 93,169 Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 48 2020 Monitoring Report 1 Starting in funding year 2016, Libraries include both Library and Library System applicants. 2 Starting January 2011, applicants could designate their consortium as a statewide entity if the application encompassed all public schools, private schools and/or all public libraries in the state. See http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-10-2218A1.pdf. In 2016, applicants filing as a consortium, school district, and library system could designate their sub-type as a statewide entity. These applicants commitments and disbursements are included within their primary applicant type column and are not included in the Statewide Contract column. Notes: Activity through June 30, 2020. Funding year 2020 commitment and disbursement information is not displayed because only a small fraction of commitments (and no disbursements) have been issued for this funding year. A substantial amount of commitments and disbursements for funding year 2020 will be made. Also, because of the appeals process, certain funding commitments and disbursements may be issued after the end of the program year. Disbursements may also continue beyond the end of the program year in the event of delayed internal connections installation. Other adjustments and corrections may also be made as part of other post-commitment reviews and audits. Funds by service type can be found in the Supplementary Material file "SL Funds - by Service Type, State, and Funding Year" available in a zip file at http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/federal-state-joint-board-monitoring-reports. Source: Universal Service Administrative Company Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 49 2020 Monitoring Report Table 4.2  Schools and Libraries Funding Commitments and Disbursements from Program Inception through June 30, 2020 by State and Applicant Type (in Thousands of Dollars) Library/Library Consortium Schools School Districts Statewide Contracts Other Consortium Totals Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds State/Territory Committed Disbursed Committed Disbursed Committed Disbursed Committed Disbursed Committed Disbursed Committed Disbursed Alabama $16,316 $12,688 $21,424 $15,818 $709,815 $607,661 $86 $1 $152,637 $111,054 $900,279 $747,222 Alaska 13,246 10,370 5,843 4,644 921,334 740,654 - - 30,491 24,087 970,914 779,755 American Samoa - - - - 6,311 4,314 - - 38,344 31,121 44,656 35,436 Arizona 29,598 30,384 178,465 120,959 1,126,155 857,033 - - 94,216 27,563 1,428,434 1,035,940 Arkansas 10,339 8,403 9,406 7,793 331,019 255,133 25,836 17,082 223,998 120,847 600,598 409,258 California 140,077 98,642 345,538 240,082 6,830,823 5,196,264 106 51 381,528 259,484 7,698,071 5,794,523 Colorado 19,130 13,943 25,568 18,599 467,038 372,900 - - 32,381 24,207 544,117 429,648 Connecticut 8,652 5,927 54,790 39,041 340,170 274,956 - - 117,221 99,458 520,832 419,382 Delaware 1,387 1,185 4,117 2,905 27,075 23,642 2,246 2,246 29,192 22,432 64,017 52,410 District of Columbia 13,424 8,946 32,542 20,870 197,132 133,266 - - 17,947 8,599 261,045 171,682 Florida 73,083 56,789 193,267 140,042 1,519,566 1,232,677 - - 123,063 100,847 1,908,980 1,530,355 Georgia 108,320 91,182 41,801 33,593 1,384,359 1,147,121 4,411 4,328 202,645 176,230 1,741,536 1,452,455 Guam 188 74 284 140 30,551 22,278 - - - - 31,023 22,491 Hawaii 2,760 1,594 61,786 31,638 69,456 38,814 3,128 2,381 1,223 834 138,352 75,261 Idaho 6,727 5,333 10,552 6,954 154,750 120,785 - - 1,510 13,949 173,539 147,022 Illinois 50,015 36,879 157,049 117,114 2,012,102 1,545,299 - - 77,610 56,421 2,296,777 1,755,713 Indiana 84,442 63,994 46,654 33,960 674,898 535,537 - - 97,529 45,111 903,523 678,602 Iowa 5,188 3,528 17,684 12,991 219,196 165,350 - - 87,951 75,420 330,020 257,289 Kansas 15,125 12,291 11,867 8,768 360,014 286,589 - - 24,484 19,728 411,490 327,377 Kentucky 26,074 19,713 8,822 6,112 660,410 497,366 - - 151,125 122,777 846,431 645,969 Louisiana 82,278 67,795 67,461 49,007 901,595 759,698 - - 35,065 26,013 1,086,399 902,514 Maine 1,641 1,243 16,482 12,124 73,808 53,465 - - 73,742 67,532 165,673 134,364 Maryland 20,206 15,195 33,990 23,054 450,006 335,422 - - 35,701 26,051 539,903 399,722 Massachusetts 43,416 30,570 77,577 57,384 575,523 461,297 11 - 58,395 32,518 754,923 581,768 Michigan 47,767 38,032 73,615 50,402 949,111 729,830 - - 191,494 153,454 1,261,986 971,719 Minnesota 34,220 27,842 54,097 37,306 377,583 292,556 - - 156,869 136,283 622,770 493,986 Mississippi 62,304 32,777 21,246 15,399 552,130 427,620 144 105 120,921 86,539 756,745 562,440 Missouri 26,728 22,517 52,105 38,763 620,108 492,725 - - 244,253 163,211 943,195 717,215 Montana 1,804 1,258 5,455 4,111 100,894 82,658 - - 1,100 448 109,252 88,475 Nebraska 5,240 4,062 9,806 7,708 159,809 137,750 - - 38,727 33,445 213,583 182,965 Nevada 6,859 4,653 10,492 7,048 145,411 107,519 - - 349 328 163,111 119,549 New Hampshire 395 220 8,870 6,292 54,203 39,855 - - 2,162 1,694 65,629 48,060 New Jersey 36,987 26,163 157,929 110,199 1,131,715 842,268 - - 21,653 14,800 1,348,285 993,430 New Mexico 8,267 4,813 89,208 61,978 634,093 489,212 - - 175,054 85,027 906,622 641,029 New York 227,222 161,617 656,305 476,557 2,783,211 2,191,187 - - 665,852 502,590 4,332,590 3,331,952 North Carolina 38,998 32,039 54,008 41,861 1,206,546 1,024,138 23,594 22,755 110,701 81,844 1,433,847 1,202,638 North Dakota 206 157 10,288 7,748 32,602 25,355 - - 49,103 40,563 92,199 73,823 Northern Mariana Isl. 271 192 228 179 20,956 17,161 - - - - 21,455 17,532 Ohio 69,592 56,224 171,601 125,190 1,366,359 1,089,089 - - 98,743 82,304 1,706,295 1,352,807 Oklahoma 51,383 41,220 52,101 37,183 1,042,371 825,008 - - 14,616 5,681 1,160,471 909,092 Oregon 7,587 5,181 13,755 9,767 309,272 253,075 - - 59,674 33,313 390,288 301,335 Pennsylvania 54,013 44,560 196,066 134,661 1,196,161 1,000,497 - - 204,950 169,150 1,651,190 1,348,868 Puerto Rico 92,366 53,319 113,828 80,909 315,794 242,469 - - 120,016 61,284 642,004 437,981 Rhode Island 2,351 1,987 10,661 7,871 86,118 67,934 19 19 51,776 48,107 150,925 125,918 South Carolina 9,797 6,919 28,916 19,118 570,856 450,089 - - 352,961 303,017 962,530 779,143 South Dakota 646 271 23,805 17,789 53,245 39,098 2,745 2,553 45,549 31,727 125,990 91,437 Tennessee 24,419 17,707 21,425 17,100 1,109,128 804,005 - - 242,136 199,261 1,397,108 1,038,073 Texas 67,296 45,822 200,107 152,701 4,711,236 3,797,432 - - 365,901 248,723 5,344,540 4,244,678 Utah 2,716 1,263 5,379 3,645 114,542 92,671 - - 321,126 188,296 443,763 285,874 Vermont 1,113 679 16,123 10,569 45,060 33,368 - - 2,705 2,076 65,000 46,692 Virgin Islands 457 230 14,960 11,435 10,665 9,412 3,429 3,044 64,469 59,193 93,981 83,314 Virginia 41,345 32,546 29,873 23,788 722,521 585,650 - - 15,857 14,242 809,596 656,226 Washington 41,089 32,194 22,182 16,908 531,263 411,815 78 78 104,350 81,909 698,962 542,904 West Virginia 4,828 3,819 4,010 2,378 234,196 175,079 19,735 9,892 72,092 56,081 334,862 247,249 Wisconsin 16,898 12,680 57,904 41,236 462,577 369,493 - - 202,652 154,485 740,031 577,894 Wyoming 666 458 5,016 3,674 32,890 24,357 9,990 6,395 40,895 31,167 89,457 66,051 Totals 1,757,463 1,310,087 3,614,336 2,585,066 41,725,734 32,837,900 95,557 70,932 6,246,703 4,562,525 53,439,793 41,366,511 Notes: Unlike in Table 4.1, all commitments and disbursements have been shown in this table, including those issued in funding year 2020. Because of the appeals process, funding commitments and disbursements may be issued after the end of the program year. Also, disbursements may continue beyond the end of the program year in the event of delayed internal connections installation. Other adjustments and corrections may also occur. Source: Universal Service Administrative Company Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 50 2020 Monitoring Report Section 5  Rural Health Care The Rural Health Care (RHC) Program provides funding to eligible health care providers for broadband and telecommunications services necessary for the provision of health care. The goal of the program is to improve the quality of health care available to patients in rural communities by ensuring that eligible health care providers have access to broadband and telecommunications services. RHC Program support is provided on a funding year basis. Funding years run from July 1 through June 30 of the subsequent year. Prior to FY 2017, the RHC Program cap was $400 million. Beginning in funding year (FY) 2017, funding for the RHC Program was capped at $571 million and annually adjusted for inflation. The cap for FY 2020 is $604 million. The RHC Program is administered by the Universal Service Fund (USF) administrator, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), under the direction of the Commission. The RHC Program provides funding through two programs: The Telecommunications (Telecom) Program and the Healthcare Connect Fund Program. The Telecom Program, established in 1997, ensures that rural health care providers pay no more than their urban counterparts for telecommunications services. Specifically, an applicant s program support is based on the difference between rural rates charged for telecommunications services in the rural areas in a state and the urban rates charged for similar telecommunications services in the same state. Eligible rural health care providers can obtain rates on telecommunications services for their rural health care facilities that are reasonably comparable to rates charged for similar services in corresponding urban areas, and the USF pays the difference between the urban rate and rural rate calculated under the Commission s rules to the service provider in effect, providing a discount to the rural health care provider in the amount of the  rural-urban differential. The Healthcare Connect Fund Program, established in 2012, provides a flat 65% discount on an array of communications services to both individual rural health care provider and consortia, which can include non-rural health care providers (if the consortium has a majority of rural sites). These services include Internet access, dark fiber, business data, traditional DSL, and private carriage services. With the Healthcare Connect Fund Program, the Commission intended to promote the use of broadband services and facilitate the formation of healthcare provider consortia recognizing the increasing need for rural health care providers to have access to specialists who are often located in urban areas, as well as the advent of certain communications-based trends in healthcare delivery, such as the move towards electronic health records. In August 2019, the Commission adopted an order that reforms the RHC Program to increase transparency, predictability, and efficiency in the Telecom Program and increase rural participation in Healthcare Connect Fund Program consortia. The rules adopted by the Order, to take effect in future funding years: " Target and prioritize funding to rural areas in the most need of health care services. " Simplify urban and rural rate determinations in the Telecom Program by, among other things, directing USAC to create an urban and rural rate database. " Reform competitive bidding in the RHC Program, making it more productive for health care providers to identify and select cost-effective service offerings in their rural areas. " Streamline the application process and align procedures between the E-Rate and RHC Programs to ease the burden on participants. " Strengthen safeguards against waste, fraud, and abuse in the RHC Program. Additional information about the RHC Program can be found on the Commission s website at http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/rural-health-care and on USAC s website at http://www.usac.org/rhc/. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 51 2020 Monitoring Report Table 5.1  Rural Health Care Funding Commitments and Disbursements by Program and Year (in Thousands of Dollars) Telecommunications and Inte rne t Acce ss Program Pilot Healthcare Connect Totals Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Ye ar Committed Disbursed Committed Disbursed Committed Disbursed Committed Disbursed 1998 $ 3,388 $ 3,369 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 0 $ 3,388 $ 3,369 1999 4,653 4,291 0 0 0 0 4,653 4,291 2000 10,711 10,196 0 0 0 0 10,711 10,196 2001 19,582 18,477 0 0 0 0 19,582 18,477 2002 23,344 21,366 0 0 0 0 23,344 21,366 2003 27,908 25,726 0 0 0 0 27,908 25,726 2004 32,128 30,962 0 0 0 0 32,128 30,962 2005 40,742 39,999 0 0 0 0 40,742 39,999 2006 45,989 45,092 0 0 0 0 45,989 45,092 2007 56,210 54,818 467 467 0 0 56,677 55,285 2008 67,765 66,661 14,734 14,300 0 0 82,499 80,961 2009 72,828 71,439 350,702 281,372 0 0 423,531 352,810 2010 92,053 87,326 0 0 0 0 92,053 87,326 2011 104,360 101,291 0 0 0 0 104,360 101,291 2012 117,236 116,940 0 0 0 0 117,236 116,940 2013 133,412 128,675 0 0 46,926 45,664 180,338 174,339 2014 137,167 135,257 0 0 88,187 88,930 225,354 224,187 2015 184,569 168,575 0 0 102,049 100,602 286,618 269,177 2016 196,296 184,156 0 0 133,167 124,642 329,463 308,798 2017 165,084 150,114 0 0 192,625 164,459 357,709 314,574 2018 35,776 32,136 0 0 164,676 158,120 200,452 190,257 2019 50,298 28,646 0 0 259,992 35,202 310,291 63,848 Note: Activity through June 30, 2020. Funding Year 2020 commitment and disbursement information has not been displayed because by June 30, the data cutoff date for this report, no commitments or disbursements for funding year 2020 were made during that time. However, we anticipate that a substantial amount of commitments and disbursements for funding year 2020 will be made. Also, because of the appeals process, funding commitments and disbursements can be made after the end of the program year. Disbursements may also continue beyond the end of the program year in the event of delayed internal connections installation. Other adjustments and corrections may also be made. Source: USAC data. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 52 2020 Monitoring Report Table 5.2  Rural Health Care Funding Commitments and Disbursements from Program Inception Through June 30, 2020 by State Program (in Thousands of Dollars) Telecommunications and Inte rne t Acce ss Program Pilot Healthcare Connect Totals State Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Committed Disbursed Committed Disbursed Committed Disbursed Committed Disbursed Alabama $ 13,347 $ 9,981 $ 2,749 $ 2,746 $ 8,101 $ 3,119 $ 24,197 $ 15,846 Alaska 869,884 837,658 1,882 209 4,205 1,486 875,971 839,352 American Samoa 1,512 1,419 0 0 0 0 1,512 1,419 Arizona 35,287 30,990 7,506 5,637 13,424 2,424 56,217 39,051 Arkansas 21,576 19,693 4,218 4,132 52,760 6,020 78,553 29,846 California 50,462 48,371 22,903 11,136 85,436 8,059 158,801 67,565 Colorado 4,530 3,945 10,870 10,702 53,160 2,831 68,560 17,478 Connecticut 12 12 0 0 3,898 88 3,910 100 Delaware 1 1 0 0 1,461 0 1,462 1 District of Columbia 18 8 0 0 0 0 18 8 Florida 6,528 5,956 63 63 20,282 2,031 26,873 8,050 Georgia 40,455 37,599 2,233 2,166 23,860 8,703 66,548 48,467 Guam 767 762 89 83 471 353 1,327 1,198 Hawaii 2,435 2,376 4,653 2,100 2,662 34 9,750 4,509 Idaho 8,904 8,256 0 0 8,681 2,755 17,584 11,011 Illinois 20,363 19,452 21,071 21,070 25,490 11,303 66,924 51,825 Indiana 9,881 7,573 15,458 12,800 45,002 9,062 70,342 29,435 Iowa 7,434 7,103 17,368 17,291 21,748 3,747 46,551 28,141 Kansas 10,518 10,068 0 0 25,230 6,852 35,748 16,919 Kentucky 17,405 15,396 2,945 913 25,663 12,490 46,013 28,799 Louisiana 11,702 11,268 15,570 375 11,022 4,941 38,295 16,584 Maine $596 $491 $12,957 $12,639 $11,883 $299 $25,436 $13,430 Maryland 327 217 0 0 2,101 647 2,428 864 Massachusetts 1,007 948 0 0 5,850 392 6,856 1,341 Michigan 22,933 21,594 19,449 19,230 27,770 11,143 70,151 51,968 Minnesota 35,028 33,246 5,714 5,297 17,189 5,722 57,931 44,265 Mississippi 38,542 35,243 0 0 13,437 4,953 51,980 40,196 Missouri 20,791 19,429 2,538 2,193 23,823 10,462 47,152 32,084 Montana 12,377 11,934 15,413 14,756 5,565 470,960 33,355 497,650 Nebraska 22,966 22,139 18,010 18,010 20,218 3,517 61,195 43,665 Nevada 3,103 3,069 0 0 1,940 993 5,043 4,062 New Hampshire 234 224 6,400 6,335 5,164 926 11,798 7,485 New Jersey 0 0 0 0 326 0 326 0 New Mexico 11,722 10,761 11,770 11,029 16,830 2,453 40,322 24,243 New York 2,612 2,275 15,492 14,681 32,794 7,251 50,897 24,207 North Carolina 8,845 8,294 12,169 12,115 47,674 7,891 68,687 28,300 North Dakota 15,174 14,594 912 835 10,024 1,579 26,110 17,009 Northern Mariana Islands 43 21 46 44 0 0 89 65 Ohio 9,136 8,445 27,209 26,478 24,098 10,074 60,444 44,998 Oklahoma 30,572 29,271 0 0 26,452 5,709 57,025 34,980 Oregon 3,897 3,707 18,130 17,129 25,547 2,636 47,573 23,471 Pennsylvania 1,710 1,563 6,793 6,035 23,738 4,526 32,240 12,124 Puerto Rico 0 0 0 0 115 99 115 99 Rhode Island 0 0 0 0 145 0 145 0 South Carolina 5,271 2,112 8,763 8,282 32,819 2,193 46,854 12,587 South Dakota 10,731 10,506 4,585 4,482 11,680 1,120 26,996 16,109 Tennessee 15,768 14,325 6,834 0 12,251 4,697 34,854 19,022 Texas 81,196 67,501 15,250 0 48,254 15,131 144,700 82,632 Utah 9,930 9,053 8,815 8,176 5,888 87 24,633 17,316 Vermont 941 891 6,078 6,047 4,095 1,638 11,115 8,575 Virgin Islands 852 846 0 0 0 0 852 846 Virginia 28,680 26,327 2,698 1,965 18,475 3,714 49,854 32,007 Washington 3,180 3,020 118 117 25,258 2,831 28,557 5,968 West Virginia 8,540 6,413 7,070 5,751 5,683 3,390 21,294 15,554 Wisconsin 78,398 75,943 2,312 2,303 44,898 43,123 125,608 121,369 Wyoming 3,377 3,226 797 784 3,081 1,161 7,255 5,171 Totals $ 1,621,499 $ 1,525,513 $ 365,903 $ 296,139 $ 987,622 $ 717,620 $ 2,975,024 $ 2,539,271 Note: Disbursements through June 30, 2020. Unlike in Table 5.1, all commitments and disbursements (if any) have been included, including those in funding year 2020. Because of the appeals process, funding commitments and disbursements may be made after the program year ended. Source: USAC data. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 53 2020 Monitoring Report Section 6  Subscribership (Voice and Internet) Continuing analysis of telephone subscribership statistics allows one to examine the aggregate effects of Commission actions and industry evolution on households decisions to maintain, acquire or drop telephone service. In addition to telephone subscribership statistics, recent surveys by the Census Bureau now also provide information about the subscribership of high-speed Internet services. Starting in 2016, this section includes telephone and Internet expense statistics for lower income households. Starting in 2017, this section includes fixed broadband deployment and subscription information for ILECs. This chapter presents comprehensive data on telephone subscribership and expense statistics and information collected by the Bureau of the Census, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the FCC primarily through the American Community Survey (ACS), the Current Population Survey (CPS), the Consumer Expenditures Survey (CE), and FCC Form 477. The section also provides national and state-level estimates of high- speed Internet adoption based on the ACS. Along with telephone and high-speed Internet subscribership statistics for the nation and each of the states, data are provided on subscribership for various demographics. For telephone service, particular attention is given to subscribership and expenses for lower income households given the Commission s various low-income programs such as Lifeline. To provide regular, high-quality data on telephone subscribership, the Commission requested that the Census Bureau include questions on telephone availability as part of its CPS, which monitors demographic trends between decennial censuses. The CPS is a staggered panel survey in which the people residing at selected addresses are included in the survey for four consecutive months in one year and the same four months in the following year. Use of the CPS has several advantages: it is conducted every month by an independent and expert agency, the sample is large, and the questions are consistent. Thus, changes in the results can be compared over time with a reasonable degree of confidence. In addition to the CPS, the ACS also provides data for calculating a measure of telephone subscribership. The ACS replaced the decennial census long form and thus also provides a wealth of data and large sample sizes, though on a less frequent basis than the CPS. Whereas the CPS reports household subscribership, the ACS follows the design of past decennial censuses and reports telephone subscribership for occupied housing units. In this chapter, subscribership measures from the CPS, the ACS, and decennial censuses (prior to the ACS) are reported as complements to each other.10 Historically, the ACS provided telephone subscribership data, and since 2013 now also asks whether households have access to the Internet. The ACS asks,  At this house, apartment, or mobile home  do you or any member of this household access the Internet? Statistics based on 2019 data from the ACS on high-speed Internet subscribership has been incorporated into this report. Since the ACS is conducted throughout the year, a 1-year average is calculated using the data. The specific questions regarding telephone availability asked in the CPS are:  Does this house, apartment, or mobile home have telephone service from which you can both make and receive calls? Please include cell phones, regular phones, and any other type of telephone. And, if the answer to the 10 Subscribership statistics derived from the CPS cannot be directly compared with the subscribership estimates based on the responses to the long forms of the 1990 and 2000 decennial censuses or the ACS. This is due to differences in sampling techniques and survey methodologies as well as differences in the context in which the questions are asked. For example, the 2013 ACS reported 97.7% of all occupied housing units in the United States had telephone service available, whereas the March 2013 CPS data showed a household subscribership of 96.0%. This difference is statistically significant and may indicate that the CPS value is on the low side and the ACS value is on the high side, with the most probable value lying somewhere in between. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 54 2020 Monitoring Report first question is  no, this is followed up with:  Is there a telephone elsewhere on which people in this household can be called? If the answer to the first question is  yes, the household is counted as having a telephone  in unit. If the answer to either the first or second question is  yes, the household is counted as having a telephone  available. In contrast to the CPS, the ACS in 2019 simply asks:  Does this house, apartment, or mobile home have telephone service from which you can both make and receive calls? Include cell phones. Thus, the ACS question is most similar to the CPS s  in unit subscribership rather than  available. Although the CPS is conducted every month, not all questions are asked every month. The telephone questions are asked once every four months. The changes in the CPS estimates reflect changes over the preceding four months. Aggregated summaries of the responses are reported to the Commission, based on the surveys conducted through March, July, and November of each year. The ACS provides annual telephone subscribership statistics based on data collected monthly throughout the year. The CPS data are based on a nationwide sample of about 50 to 60 thousand households in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The CPS does not cover outlying areas that are not states, such as Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands.11 The ACS form is sent to approximately 250 thousand addresses per month, for a total of about 3 million addresses per year. The ACS covers the states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The questions and answer categories used to collect ACS data on computer and Internet use were revised in 2016. The changes in high-speed Internet subscribership may be due to the revised wording and improved measurement, rather than a result of changes in the Internet use. Section 6 also presents broadband subscription and deployment information by ILECs based on their Form 477 and study area boundary submissions. Additionally, carriers participating in modernized Connect America Fund programs must file broadband deployment data with USAC s HUBB (High Cost Universal Broadband) portal showing where they are building out mass-market, high-speed Internet service. These deployment data have been rolled up by funding mechanism and compared against their deployment obligations. 11 Annual data for Puerto Rico has been available from the ACS starting with 2005. The percentage of occupied housing units with voice service for the last five years of available data are reported in Table 6.6. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 55 2020 Monitoring Report Table 6.1  Household Voice Subscribership in the United States, 1983  2020 Households Households Percentage Percentage Households with a without a without Month Ye ar with Telephone (millions) Telephone in Telephone in Telephone in in Unit Unit (millions) Unit (millions) Unit November 1983 85.8 78.4 91.4 7.4 8.6 November 1984 87.4 79.9 91.4 7.5 8.6 November 1985 88.8 81.6 91.9 7.2 8.1 November 1986 89.9 83.1 92.4 6.8 7.6 November 1987 91.3 84.3 92.3 7.0 7.7 November 1988 92.6 85.7 92.5 6.9 7.5 November 1989 93.9 87.3 93.0 6.6 7.0 November 1990 94.7 88.4 93.3 6.3 6.7 November 1991 95.7 89.4 93.4 6.3 6.6 November 1992 97.0 91.0 93.8 6.0 6.2 November 1993 98.8 93.0 94.2 5.8 5.8 November 1994 99.8 93.7 93.8 6.2 6.2 November 1995 100.4 94.2 93.9 6.2 6.1 November 1996 101.3 95.1 93.9 6.2 6.1 November 1997 102.8 96.5 93.8 6.3 6.2 November 1998 104.1 98.0 94.2 6.1 5.8 November 1999 105.4 99.1 94.1 6.3 5.9 November 2000 106.5 100.2 94.1 6.3 5.9 November 2001 107.7 102.2 94.9 5.5 5.1 November 2002 109.0 104.0 95.3 5.1 4.7 November 2003 113.1 107.1 94.7 6.0 5.3 November 2004 113.8 106.4 93.5 7.4 6.5 November 2005 115.2 107.0 92.9 8.2 7.1 November 2006 116.4 108.8 93.4 7.6 6.6 November 2007 118.2 112.2 94.9 6.0 5.1 November 2008 118.6 112.7 95.0 5.9 5.0 November 2009 119.2 114.0 95.7 5.1 4.3 November 2010 119.4 114.0 95.5 5.4 4.5 November 2011 119.7 114.4 95.6 5.3 4.4 March 2012 121.9 117.0 96.0 4.9 4.0 July 2012 121.7 117.0 96.1 4.7 3.9 November 2012 122.0 116.9 95.8 5.1 4.2 March 2013 123.3 118.3 96.0 5.0 4.0 July 2013 123.1 118.3 96.1 4.8 3.9 November 2013 123.7 118.4 95.7 5.3 4.3 March 2014 124.2 119.5 96.3 4.7 3.7 July 2014 123.9 119.0 96.0 4.9 4.0 November 2014 124.8 119.9 96.1 4.9 3.9 March 2015 125.5 121.1 96.5 4.4 3.5 July 2015 125.8 121.7 96.3 4.1 3.5 November 2015 126.1 122.2 96.3 3.9 3.1 March 2016 127.2 122.7 96.5 4.5 3.5 July 2016 127.0 122.4 96.4 4.6 3.6 November 2016 127.3 122.6 96.3 4.7 3.7 March 2017 127.4 122.6 96.2 4.8 3.8 July 2017 127.5 122.9 96.4 4.6 3.6 November 2017 127.5 122.1 95.8 5.4 4.2 March 2018 128.8 124.2 96.4 4.6 3.6 July 2018 129.1 123.9 96.0 5.2 4.0 November 2018 129.4 124.2 96.0 5.2 4.0 March 2019 129.9 124.9 96.2 4.9 3.8 July 2019 129.9 124.9 96.2 4.9 3.8 November 2019 130.6 125.2 95.8 5.4 4.2 March 2020 129.3 125.4 97.0 3.9 3.0 July 2020 128.5 126.1 98.1 2.4 1.9 Source: United States Census Bureau, Current Population Survey Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 56 2020 Monitoring Report Table 6.2  Household Voice Subscribership by Income, 1997  2020 (in 1984 Dollars) $9,999 or $10,000 - $20,000 - $30,000 - $40,000 or All Less $19,999 $29,999 $39,999 Gre ate r Households 1997 86.0 93.0 96.5 97.6 98.2 94.0 1998 85.7 93.7 96.1 97.4 98.2 94.1 1999 85.5 92.9 96.0 97.2 98.2 94.0 2000 87.5 93.3 96.1 97.3 98.0 94.5 2001 87.6 93.4 95.9 97.1 97.8 94.4 2002 89.1 94.3 96.9 98.1 98.8 95.5 2003 89.2 94.6 97.0 98.1 98.8 95.5 2004 88.0 93.2 95.3 96.7 97.7 94.2 2005 86.4 91.2 94.1 95.2 96.0 92.5 2006 86.3 91.8 94.4 95.4 96.5 92.9 2007 88.4 94.1 95.9 96.8 97.9 94.6 2008 89.7 94.3 96.2 97.4 98.3 95.2 2009 90.4 95.2 96.6 97.3 98.3 95.6 2010 91.9 95.8 96.9 97.7 98.6 96.1 2011 91.5 95.9 96.8 97.8 98.3 95.9 2012 92.0 95.3 96.9 97.8 98.3 95.9 2013 92.6 95.6 97.0 97.2 98.3 96.0 2014 93.1 95.9 96.7 97.9 98.2 96.3 2015 93.2 96.0 97.1 97.7 98.1 96.4 2016 93.2 96.4 97.0 97.6 98.0 96.4 2017 93.1 96.0 96.9 97.5 97.8 96.3 2018 92.9 96.3 97.1 97.5 97.6 96.3 2019 93.1 96.1 96.3 97.1 97.8 96.2 2020 94.2 96.5 97.5 97.7 98.2 97.0 Notes: Income groups classified by 1984 dollars. For a conversion to current-year dollars, consult Table 6.3. Total penetration rates may differ slightly from those in Table 6.1 due to sampling differences between the March CPS and the March CPS Supplement. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (March CPS Supplement). Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 57 2020 Monitoring Report Table 6.3  Nominal Dollar Equivalents by Year 1984 $10,000 $20,000 $30,000 $40,000 1997 15,595 31,190 46,785 62,380 1998 15,809 31,618 47,427 63,236 1999 16,082 32,164 48,246 64,328 2000 16,686 33,372 50,058 66,744 2001 17,173 34,346 51,519 68,692 2002 17,427 34,854 52,281 69,708 2003 17,953 35,906 53,859 71,812 2004 18,265 36,530 54,795 73,060 2005 18,840 37,680 56,520 75,360 2006 19,474 38,948 58,422 77,896 2007 20,015 40,030 60,045 80,060 2008 20,812 41,624 62,436 83,248 2009 20,732 41,464 62,196 82,928 2010 21,212 42,423 63,635 84,846 2011 21,780 43,561 65,341 87,122 2012 22,358 44,716 67,074 89,432 2013 22,687 45,375 68,062 90,750 2014 23,031 46,061 69,092 92,122 2015 23,014 46,027 69,041 92,054 2016 23,210 46,419 69,629 92,839 2017 23,762 47,525 71,287 95,049 2018 24,323 48,646 72,969 97,292 2019 24,776 49,552 74,328 99,104 2020 25,157 50,315 75,472 100,630 Notes: All numbers based on CPI non-adjusted series, March 1984 base of 102.6. This table shows the nominal dollar equivalents for each 1984-dollar amount used in classifying income categories in Tables 6.2 and 6.8, Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 58 2020 Monitoring Report Table 6.4  Historical Voice Penetration Estimates Percentage of Occupied Housing Percentage of Households with Units with Telephone Service 1 Telephone Service 2 1920 35.0 1930 40.9 1940 36.9 1950 61.8 1960 78.3 1970 90.5 1980 92.9 1990 94.8 93.3 2000 97.6 94.4 2001 96.9 94.9 2002 96.6 95.3 2003 96.2 95.1 2004 95.7 93.8 2005 94.8 93.1 2006 94.1 93.6 2007 94.6 94.8 20083 98.2 95.2 2009 97.7 95.7 2010 97.5 95.8 2011 97.4 95.7 2012 97.4 95.9 2013 97.7 95.9 2014 97.6 96.1 2015 97.4 96.3 2016 97.0 96.4 2017 98.5 96.1 2018 98.5 96.1 2019 99.0 96.1 4 2020 NA 98.1 1 Housing Unit penetration statistics are from the U.S. Census Bureau s Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, Part 2, page 783 (1920 - 1970); the decennial censuses (1980 - 2000); and the Census Bureau s American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year estimates (2001 - 2019). 2 Household penetration data (1990 - 2019) are annual averages from the U.S. Census based on the Current Population Survey. For 2020, July CPS data are used. 3 Errata #53: released April 12, 2010, regarding 2008 ACS 1-year and 2006-2008 ACS 3-year estimates for household kitchen facilities and telephone service. Two errors were found affecting the 2008 ACS 1-year data and the 2006-2008 ACS 3-year data for telephone service. The errors involve the last two items in Question 8 on the housing section of the 2008 ACS questionnaire which asks whether the housing unit has telephone service (including cell phones). The error involved the incorrect capture of the responses to those items. It affected the estimates of householders who reported no telephone service, resulting in an underestimate of "no" responses and an increased imputation rate for both items. At the national level, the percent of households reporting no telephone service in 2008 was 1.8 percent; however, after correcting the data capture error, the percent reporting no telephone service is approximately 2.8 percent. 4 ACS statistics for 2020 are not available. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 59 2020 Monitoring Report Table 6.5  Voice Subscribership by Selected Demographic Characteristics (Percentage of Households with Voice Service) Characte ristic 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Persons in Household 1 94.6 94.1 94.3 94.3 97.5 2 - 3 97.0 96.9 96.7 96.7 98.4 4 - 5 97.3 97.2 97.3 97.1 98.2 6 + 96.2 96.0 96.5 96.3 98.0 Age of Householder 15 - 24 Yrs Old 95.0 95.9 95.9 95.5 98.4 25 - 54 Yrs Old 96.3 96.0 96.1 96.2 98.1 55 - 59 Yrs Old 96.8 95.9 96.4 95.6 98.4 60 - 64 Yrs Old 96.7 96.6 96.3 95.9 98.0 65 - 69 Yrs Old 96.9 96.9 96.5 96.5 97.9 70 - 99 Yrs Old 96.4 95.9 95.9 95.8 98.1 Race of Householder White 96.7 96.5 96.5 96.4 98.2 Black 94.7 94.0 94.2 94.7 97.7 Hispanic Origin 94.7 94.4 94.4 94.2 96.9 Total United States 96.4 96.1 96.1 96.1 98.1 Note: that 2016 to 2019 values are annual averages. For 2020, values are July 2020 figures since complete 2020 figures were unavailable at the time of publication. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 60 2020 Monitoring Report Table 6.6  Voice Subscribership by State, 2013  2019 (Percentage of Occupied Housing Units with Voice Service) 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Alabama 97.4 97.2 96.9 98.4 98.0 98.6 Alaska 98.1 97.3 97.5 98.9 98.7 98.6 Arizona 97.5 97.4 96.4 98.1 98.4 98.8 Arkansas 97.3 96.4 96.3 97.8 98.0 98.6 California 97.9 97.8 97.4 98.8 98.8 99.1 Colorado 97.9 97.9 96.9 98.7 98.6 99.2 Connecticut 98.5 98.5 97.9 98.9 98.9 99.2 Delaware 97.9 98.3 97.4 98.2 99.2 99.5 District of Columbia 97.6 97.2 96.4 97.0 98.8 99.0 Florida 97.1 97.1 96.4 98.3 98.4 98.8 Georgia 97.3 97.3 97.0 98.5 98.5 99.0 Hawaii 97.7 97.7 97.0 98.4 98.2 98.8 Idaho 97.3 97.3 96.4 98.2 98.4 99.3 Illinois 97.4 97.6 96.9 98.5 98.5 99.0 Indiana 97.5 97.4 97.1 98.2 98.3 98.6 Iowa 97.6 97.5 96.9 98.4 98.7 99.0 Kansas 97.4 97.1 96.4 98.0 98.5 99.1 Kentucky 97.1 97.3 97.0 98.2 98.5 98.8 Louisiana 97.0 97.2 97.0 98.0 98.2 98.8 Maine 98.1 97.6 97.6 98.5 98.7 99.0 Maryland 97.6 97.7 97.4 98.8 98.7 99.1 Massachusetts 98.2 98.1 98.1 98.9 98.8 99.2 Michigan 97.6 97.4 97.0 98.5 98.4 99.2 Minnesota 97.9 97.3 97.5 98.8 98.7 99.3 Mississippi 97.2 97.0 96.7 98.2 98.2 98.6 Missouri 97.1 97.2 96.9 98.3 98.5 99.0 Montana 97.0 97.0 96.3 97.9 97.5 98.7 Nebraska 97.7 97.3 97.2 98.6 98.5 99.1 Nevada 96.5 97.2 96.5 98.3 98.1 98.7 New Hampshire 98.3 98.3 98.2 98.9 98.9 99.1 New Jersey 98.5 97.8 97.4 99.0 98.9 99.1 New Mexico 97.2 96.6 96.2 97.6 97.8 98.5 New York 97.8 97.9 97.3 98.6 98.4 98.8 North Carolina 97.7 97.6 96.6 98.5 98.6 99.0 North Dakota 98.1 96.9 97.6 98.6 98.5 99.2 Ohio 97.3 97.3 96.7 98.6 98.6 99.0 Oklahoma 97.1 97.0 96.6 98.2 98.2 98.9 Oregon 97.6 97.3 96.7 98.7 98.9 99.2 Pennsylvania 98.2 98.0 97.7 98.5 98.6 99.0 Rhode Island 97.8 98.1 97.5 99.0 98.8 99.2 South Carolina 97.6 97.0 96.1 98.3 98.5 98.9 South Dakota 97.2 96.7 96.4 97.6 97.9 98.4 Tennessee 97.5 97.6 97.1 98.4 98.4 98.6 Texas 97.7 97.4 96.3 98.2 98.4 99.0 Utah 98.0 97.7 97.2 98.4 99.0 99.3 Vermont 98.1 97.9 97.2 98.6 98.0 98.7 Virginia 98.1 97.6 97.5 98.9 98.9 99.2 Washington 97.6 97.5 97.0 99.0 98.7 99.1 West Virginia 96.9 97.3 96.9 97.1 98.4 98.5 Wisconsin 97.7 97.3 97.0 98.4 98.4 98.9 Wyoming 97.9 97.4 97.1 98.9 98.9 99.1 Total United States 97.6 97.4 97.0 98.5 98.5 99.0 Puerto Rico 94.3 95.5 96.0 96.0 95.8 96.5 Note: 'Total United States' does not include Puerto Rico. Source: Census Bureau, Table DP04. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 61 2020 Monitoring Report Table 6.7  Voice Penetration by State, Selected Years (Percentage of Households with a Telephone in Unit) 1984 1996 2000 2010 2019 Alabama 88.4 92.2 91.9 95.2 97.3 Alaska 86.5 94.4 94.3 97.1 97.3 Arizona 86.9 93.1 93.9 95.2 96.9 Arkansas 86.6 86.9 88.6 93.4 91.7 California 92.5 95.0 95.8 96.4 93.8 Colorado 93.2 95.5 96.3 97.7 97.1 Connecticut 95.5 97.5 96.4 97.9 98.6 Delaware 94.3 96.1 96.3 97.4 98.6 District of Columbia 94.9 93.0 93.2 91.1 98.3 Florida 88.7 93.1 92.1 93.7 93.0 Georgia 86.2 89.7 91.1 93.0 96.0 Hawaii 93.5 94.8 94.7 95.7 95.0 Idaho 90.7 92.9 93.9 97.9 97.5 Illinois 94.2 93.0 91.5 95.2 96.8 Indiana 91.6 93.7 94.5 92.5 95.7 Iowa 96.2 96.6 96.2 97.7 98.0 Kansas 94.3 93.9 94.8 97.5 98.6 Kentucky 88.1 92.3 93.3 95.0 94.3 Louisiana 89.7 91.1 92.6 96.5 95.8 Maine 93.4 96.5 97.9 98.2 97.4 Maryland 95.7 96.7 95.0 96.2 96.4 Massachusetts 95.9 95.7 94.6 97.6 98.4 Michigan 92.8 95.0 95.0 96.8 97.6 Minnesota 95.8 97.1 97.4 98.5 98.1 Mississippi 82.4 87.5 89.2 96.0 96.0 Missouri 91.5 95.3 95.8 96.1 98.4 Montana 91.0 94.3 94.6 94.9 97.2 Nebraska 95.7 96.0 97.3 95.6 98.2 Nevada 90.4 93.5 94.0 96.6 94.7 New Hampshire 94.3 96.1 97.7 98.2 98.9 New Jersey 94.8 93.6 94.6 95.9 90.5 New Mexico 82.0 86.2 91.2 92.4 93.5 New York 91.8 93.4 95.1 94.8 94.3 North Carolina 88.3 93.5 93.9 95.5 96.3 North Dakota 94.6 96.3 95.8 98.5 97.8 Ohio 92.4 94.5 94.8 96.7 98.2 Oklahoma 90.3 91.3 91.2 95.7 96.7 Oregon 90.6 96.0 94.8 97.6 97.7 Pennsylvania 94.9 96.9 96.6 98.2 98.2 Rhode Island 93.6 95.7 94.9 97.2 95.9 South Carolina 83.7 91.3 93.2 94.3 95.3 South Dakota 93.2 93.3 94.3 97.8 97.0 Tennessee 88.5 94.0 95.5 92.2 96.6 Texas 88.4 91.0 93.5 95.2 97.7 Utah 92.5 96.7 95.9 96.7 95.5 Vermont 92.3 95.9 95.6 98.1 98.0 Virginia 93.1 94.9 95.4 95.3 95.4 Washington 93.0 94.5 94.9 98.1 98.2 West Virginia 87.7 92.9 94.0 96.2 97.6 Wisconsin 95.2 97.0 94.8 98.3 97.6 Wyoming 89.9 95.0 94.7 97.3 95.6 Total United States 91.6 93.9 94.4 95.8 96.1 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 62 2020 Monitoring Report Table 6.8  Household Voice Penetration by State and Income, 2019 (in 1984 Dollars) $9,999 or $10,000 to $19,999 to $30,000 to $40,000 or All Less $19,999 $29,999 $39,999 More Households Alabama 95.3 98.2 98.4 99.2 99.6 98.1 Alaska 96.2 98.9 98.8 98.8 98.9 98.5 Arizona 94.8 98.3 98.1 100.0 99.6 98.4 Arkansas 91.7 92.3 96.7 96.0 94.5 93.9 California 91.6 95.0 95.6 96.6 98.0 95.9 Colorado 96.4 96.2 98.9 99.2 99.7 98.4 Connecticut 99.4 96.5 98.7 100.0 99.6 99.0 Delaware 95.9 96.1 99.4 100.0 99.4 98.4 District of Columbia 95.7 96.7 99.2 98.9 99.4 98.3 Florida 90.6 93.5 94.8 94.2 94.9 93.6 Georgia 92.8 97.4 99.5 98.4 97.2 96.8 Hawaii 93.1 96.4 97.4 97.2 98.6 97.2 Idaho 95.4 98.6 97.0 97.7 99.3 97.9 Illinois 97.0 98.4 99.0 98.9 99.2 98.6 Indiana 94.0 96.0 96.6 98.0 99.0 96.9 Iowa 97.0 99.3 98.9 98.7 99.4 98.8 Kansas 98.5 97.9 100.0 99.0 98.4 98.7 Kentucky 87.7 94.9 89.2 94.5 96.6 92.6 Louisiana 94.3 97.0 98.1 97.0 98.6 96.9 Maine 97.7 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 99.6 Maryland 100.0 97.6 97.6 98.3 98.1 98.2 Massachusetts 96.3 99.6 98.3 98.7 99.0 98.5 Michigan 95.2 99.2 98.5 97.4 99.7 98.3 Minnesota 98.3 99.3 100.0 99.0 99.8 99.4 Mississippi 94.5 97.4 99.2 97.8 97.1 96.8 Missouri 98.9 98.5 98.2 100.0 98.8 98.8 Montana 97.7 99.2 100.0 99.1 99.5 99.1 Nebraska 97.3 98.3 100.0 100.0 99.5 99.1 Nevada 93.1 97.0 99.0 94.4 98.4 96.8 New Hampshire 100.0 98.8 100.0 97.5 99.8 99.4 New Jersey 79.8 86.3 92.1 90.6 95.0 90.4 New Mexico 88.4 93.5 96.3 93.9 95.6 93.3 New York 92.9 92.3 95.0 93.0 96.8 94.5 North Carolina 94.6 98.2 97.5 98.9 98.2 97.5 North Dakota 95.2 98.0 100.0 100.0 98.9 98.5 Ohio 94.1 97.0 99.2 99.6 98.6 97.6 Oklahoma 96.0 99.7 99.3 100.0 99.0 98.8 Oregon 97.7 100.0 100.0 99.2 99.0 99.2 Pennsylvania 97.8 98.2 99.5 99.7 99.8 99.1 Rhode Island 93.2 96.7 100.0 100.0 99.4 97.9 South Carolina 93.9 95.9 98.9 97.8 96.4 96.4 South Dakota 92.3 97.1 97.6 100.0 98.7 97.3 Tennessee 97.1 96.2 97.6 100.0 97.9 97.5 Texas 96.6 98.7 98.5 98.8 99.2 98.5 Utah 98.2 94.8 97.1 95.9 96.5 96.4 Vermont 98.5 98.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 99.4 Virginia 93.3 93.4 93.2 98.9 97.0 95.5 Washington 98.6 98.4 99.1 100.0 99.8 99.3 West Virginia 96.7 98.2 99.7 98.8 99.6 98.4 Wisconsin 97.5 98.0 99.1 100.0 100.0 99.0 Wyoming 96.4 98.6 97.5 96.6 97.5 97.4 Total United States 94.2 96.5 97.5 97.7 98.2 97.0 Note: Income categories use 1984 dollars. For a conversion to current-year dollars, consult Table 6.3. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (March CPS Supplement). Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 63 2020 Monitoring Report Table 6.9  Internet Use by Selected Characteristics, 2019 Percent with high-speed Internet subscription1 All Households 86.4 Household Income 2 Less than $20,000 64.2 $20,000 - $74,999 84.1 $75,000 or more 95.6 Metropolitan Status 3 Metropolitan Area 87.6 Nonmetropolitan Area 79.4 Urban / Rural Are a3 Rural Area 82.3 Urban Area 87.4 All Individuals 89.4 Age4 Under 18 92.6 18 - 64 91.3 65 + 78.0 Race and Hispanic Origin5 White alone, non-Hispanic 90.1 Black alone, non-Hispanic 83.9 Asian alone, non-Hispanic 94.9 Hispanic (of any race) 87.6 American Indian 77.9 1 High-speed service includes all Internet service other than dial-up. 2 Source: Census Bureau, Table B28004 3 Source: Census Bureau, Table B28002 4 Source: Census Bureau, Table B28005 5 Source: Census Bureau, Tables B28009 (A, B, C, D, and I) Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 64 2020 Monitoring Report Table 6.10  High-Speed Internet Penetration for Households by State, 2015  20191 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Alabama 68.3 74.7 78.1 79.3 81.6 Alaska 81.7 85.7 86.1 87.5 87.8 Arizona 78.1 83.1 85.7 86.2 87.2 Arkansas 64.2 70.9 73.0 76.9 79.8 California 81.3 85.4 87.7 88.7 89.8 Colorado 83.0 86.9 88.2 89.4 91.0 Connecticut 82.0 84.1 85.5 87.0 88.5 Delaware 77.4 83.3 86.2 88.4 88.8 District of Columbia 76.8 79.8 82.7 86.1 87.3 Florida 77.5 81.2 83.2 85.2 86.8 Georgia 74.8 80.7 82.7 83.7 85.0 Hawaii 82.2 83.2 84.5 85.7 88.0 Idaho 76.7 79.4 82.5 86.2 88.4 Illinois 76.9 82.0 83.6 85.1 86.0 Indiana 73.3 79.2 81.2 82.8 83.9 Iowa 75.0 79.6 81.8 83.6 83.9 Kansas 76.2 80.3 83.0 84.3 85.2 Kentucky 70.9 77.3 78.9 81.7 83.1 Louisiana 68.7 74.4 75.6 78.1 80.6 Maine 77.1 80.7 82.0 84.0 84.9 Maryland 81.4 85.8 87.7 88.2 89.1 Massachusetts 82.6 85.5 86.8 87.9 88.9 Michigan 74.4 80.5 82.8 84.1 85.9 Minnesota 79.5 83.5 85.9 86.8 87.9 Mississippi 61.0 70.7 73.4 76.3 76.8 Missouri 73.3 79.3 81.3 82.9 84.8 Montana 75.0 78.9 81.3 83.6 85.0 Nebraska 78.1 81.6 84.4 85.7 87.0 Nevada 79.0 80.9 83.4 85.9 85.6 New Hampshire 84.5 86.4 88.4 89.1 89.2 New Jersey 81.6 84.2 86.8 88.0 89.4 New Mexico 67.2 73.7 76.4 76.9 78.5 New York 77.8 81.7 83.4 85.3 86.2 North Carolina 74.1 79.0 81.6 83.5 85.3 North Dakota 76.3 81.4 81.3 80.3 84.1 Ohio 76.1 80.9 83.2 84.5 85.4 Oklahoma 70.8 77.2 79.7 81.9 83.6 Oregon 80.8 84.9 86.8 87.9 89.0 Pennsylvania 75.7 80.5 81.5 84.1 85.6 Rhode Island 78.2 82.8 85.5 85.3 87.7 South Carolina 69.9 77.0 79.2 81.5 82.7 South Dakota 75.3 79.5 80.6 82.1 85.0 Tennessee 70.2 76.7 79.4 82.1 83.0 Texas 74.3 80.5 83.3 84.5 86.3 Utah 83.1 85.4 87.8 90.0 90.8 Vermont 78.7 81.1 81.4 82.5 83.4 Virginia 78.6 83.4 84.8 85.6 86.7 Washington 83.9 87.4 89.1 90.0 91.2 West Virginia 69.8 74.2 76.0 79.0 81.0 Wisconsin 76.9 81.3 83.3 84.4 86.0 Wyoming 77.8 83.2 83.7 85.7 87.8 Total United States 76.7 81.4 83.5 85.1 86.4 Puerto Rico 51.8 59.3 60.9 62.2 68.2 1 High-speed Internet service includes all Internet service other than dial-up. Source: Census Bureau, Table B28002 Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 65 2020 Monitoring Report Table 6.11  Residential Fixed Connections per Household by Speed Tier  December 31, 2019 (Households and Subscribers in thousands) At least 200 Kbps in 10 Mbps Download 25 Mbps Download 100 Mbps Download Households any direction 1 Mbps upload 3 Mbps Upload 10 Mbps Upload Subscribers Ratio Subscribers Ratio Subscribers Ratio Subscribers Ratio Alabama 1,860 1,429 0.77 1,235 0.66 1,020 0.55 746 0.40 Alaska 253 207 0.82 183 0.72 133 0.53 * * American Samoa 10 * * * * * * 0 0.00 Arizona 2,524 2,275 0.90 1,993 0.79 1,797 0.71 1,202 0.48 Arkansas 1,152 816 0.71 673 0.58 514 0.45 287 0.25 California 12,965 11,712 0.90 11,008 0.85 9,732 0.75 6,510 0.50 Colorado 2,113 1,992 0.94 1,749 0.83 1,594 0.75 739 0.35 Connecticut 1,367 1,244 0.91 1,174 0.86 995 0.73 673 0.49 Delaware 358 356 0.99 345 0.96 333 0.93 191 0.53 District of Columbia 281 262 0.93 252 0.90 238 0.85 154 0.55 Florida 7,622 7,649 1.00 7,213 0.95 6,302 0.83 4,824 0.63 Georgia 3,709 3,206 0.86 2,919 0.79 2,412 0.65 1,779 0.48 Guam 42 * * * * * * * * Hawaii 457 465 1.02 447 0.98 * * * * Idaho 618 527 0.85 396 0.64 315 0.51 151 0.24 Illinois 4,830 3,978 0.82 3,650 0.76 2,940 0.61 2,118 0.44 Indiana 2,554 2,051 0.80 1,812 0.71 1,453 0.57 1,008 0.39 Iowa 1,257 990 0.79 803 0.64 688 0.55 359 0.29 Kansas 1,125 925 0.82 820 0.73 665 0.59 452 0.40 Kentucky 1,729 1,376 0.80 1,199 0.69 1,011 0.58 727 0.42 Louisiana 1,736 1,323 0.76 1,186 0.68 978 0.56 682 0.39 Maine 557 518 0.93 450 0.81 358 0.64 277 0.50 Maryland 2,193 2,058 0.94 1,973 0.90 1,851 0.84 1,115 0.51 Massachusetts 2,602 2,438 0.94 2,347 0.90 2,274 0.87 1,380 0.53 Michigan 3,910 3,183 0.81 2,897 0.74 2,423 0.62 1,799 0.46 Minnesota 2,168 1,843 0.85 1,578 0.73 1,401 0.65 771 0.36 Mississippi 1,106 729 0.66 602 0.54 418 0.38 217 0.20 Missouri 2,396 1,913 0.80 1,631 0.68 1,359 0.57 1,024 0.43 Montana 423 348 0.82 285 0.67 243 0.57 191 0.45 Nebraska 754 627 0.83 557 0.74 467 0.62 355 0.47 Nevada 1,076 984 0.91 920 0.86 814 0.76 635 0.59 New Hampshire 528 520 0.98 484 0.92 443 0.84 237 0.45 New Jersey 3,213 3,005 0.94 2,920 0.91 2,838 0.88 2,092 0.65 New Mexico 776 609 0.78 461 0.59 380 0.49 148 0.19 New York 7,317 6,383 0.87 6,209 0.85 5,833 0.80 5,114 0.70 North Carolina 3,919 3,518 0.90 3,130 0.80 2,847 0.73 2,319 0.59 North Dakota 315 277 * 262 0.83 243 0.77 190 0.60 Northern Mariana Isl. 16 * * * * * * 0 0.00 Ohio 4,654 3,855 0.83 3,495 0.75 2,917 0.63 2,165 0.47 Oklahoma 1,475 1,094 0.74 926 0.63 754 0.51 496 0.34 Oregon 1,592 1,406 0.88 1,236 0.78 1,113 0.70 564 0.35 Pennsylvania 5,025 4,300 0.86 3,951 0.79 3,642 0.72 2,140 0.43 Puerto Rico 1,205 471 0.39 358 0.30 206 0.17 * * Rhode Island 411 373 0.91 369 0.90 358 0.87 299 0.73 South Carolina 1,895 1,657 0.87 1,518 0.80 1,283 0.68 988 0.52 South Dakota 342 282 0.82 267 0.78 245 0.72 174 0.51 Tennessee 2,567 2,082 0.81 1,904 0.74 1,593 0.62 1,230 0.48 Texas 9,553 8,256 0.86 7,685 0.80 6,618 0.69 4,570 0.48 Utah 958 883 0.92 779 0.81 687 0.72 323 0.34 Vermont 260 248 0.95 204 0.78 165 0.63 79 0.30 Virgin Islands 43 * * 17 0.40 * * * * Virginia 3,128 2,709 0.87 2,507 0.80 2,339 0.75 1,569 0.50 Washington 2,800 2,583 0.92 2,304 0.82 2,108 0.75 1,026 0.37 West Virginia 735 515 0.70 404 0.55 335 0.46 196 0.27 Wisconsin 2,343 1,962 0.84 1,745 0.74 1,453 0.62 1,137 0.49 Wyoming 231 194 0.84 163 0.71 147 0.64 98 0.42 Total 121,046 104,680 0.86 95,637 0.79 83,724 0.69 58,040 0.48 Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 66 2020 Monitoring Report Note: Mbps = megabits per second and kbps = kilobits per second. * = Data withheld to maintain firm confidentiality. Note: Column Ratio = The ratio of the reported number of fixed residential connections (from FCC Form 477) to the estimated number of households (from the 5-year ACS). This is a loose estimate of the share of households with fixed-location connections and is not bounded by 1 the numerator and denominator of this ratio are both themselves estimates and come from different sources. Note: Figures may not sum to totals due to rounding. Sources: FCC Form 477 (Connections); 2013-2017 ACS 5 -Year Estimates (Households for the fifty states, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico) Census 2010 (Housing Units for Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and U.S. Virgin Islands). Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 67 2020 Monitoring Report Table 6.12  Telephone Service, Internet Access, Telephone Expenses, and Internet Expenses in Low-Income Households, 2019 Percent of Low-Income Households with Telephone / Internet Services Low-Income Group 1 Low-Income Group 2 Telephone Service 97.2 98.4 Internet Access 73.9 80.5 Low-Income Household Expenses for Telephone/Cellular Phone/Internet Services as a Percent of Income After Taxes Low-Income Group 1 Low-Income Group 2 Telephone Expenses1 All 3.0 3.2 With Expenses Only 3.3 3.6 Cellular Phone Expenses All 2.5 2.7 With Expenses Only 2.8 3.0 Internet Expenses All 1.2 1.3 With Expenses Only 1.6 1.9 All statistics between group 1 and group 2 are statistically significantly different at a confidence level of 99.9%. 1 The telephone expenses include residential phone service, VOIP, phone cards, and cellular phone service. Note: Group 1 contains occupied housing units where the household income is less than or equal to 135% of the 2020 Federal Poverty Guideline for the household. Group 2 contains occupied housing units where household income is greater than 135% of the Federal Poverty Guideline, but less than or equal to 200% of the Federal Poverty Guideline for that Household. Note: Expenses are calculated for everyone in the income groups (All) and for only those who have telephone or internet expenses in the income groups (With Expenses Only). Note: The 2016 Lifeline Modernization Order included affordability of voice and broadband service as a component of the program s goals and directed WCB (Wireline Competition Bureau) to measure the extent to which voice and broadband service expenditures exceed two percent of low-income consumers disposable household income as compared to the next highest income group. Lifeline and Link Up Reform and Modernization, et al., WC Docket No. 11-42 et al., Third Report and Order, Further Report and Order, and Order on Reconsideration, 31 FCC Rcd 3962, 4112, para. 408 (2016). Source: American Community Survey 2019 Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) data for telephone service and internet access and Consumer Expenditure Survey 2019 public-use microdata (PUMD) for telephone and internet expenses and after-tax income. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 68 2020 Monitoring Report Table 6.13  Switched Access Lines and Interconnected VoIP Subscribers for ILECs (in Thousands) Rate-of-Return Carriers Price Cap Total A-CAM/Alaska Carriers Total Plan Estimate1 Legacy Estimate1 December 2010 4,635 92,862 97,497 December 2011 4,495 84,932 89,427 December 2012 4,268 77,846 82,114 December 2013 4,123 70,959 75,082 December 2014 3,858 65,566 69,424 December 2015 3,749 59,930 63,680 December 2016 3,697 35% 65% 54,564 58,262 December 2017 3,553 34% 66% 49,468 53,022 December 2018 3,377 31% 69% 43,878 47,256 December 2019 3,185 41% 59% 39,022 42,207 1 A-CAM and Legacy Carrier lines are estimated based on data from NECA's Annual USF filing. A-CAM II carriers are included in legacy carriers prior to 2019 and in A-CAM/Alaska Plan carriers beginning in 2019 Notes: ILEC stands for Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier. A-CAM stands for Alternative Connect America Cost Model. Data from 2014-2018 may be revised from earlier Monitoring Reports due to respondents' refiling Form 477. Source: FCC Form 477 Submissions. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 69 2020 Monitoring Report Table 6.14  Fixed Connections for ILECs (in Thousands) Rate -of-Re turn Carrie rs Residential Business Total At Least 4 Mbps December 2015 1,355 146 1,500 December 2016 1,599 164 1,764 December 2017 1,815 191 2,005 December 2018 2,083 211 2,294 December 2019 2,277 222 2,498 At Least 10 Mbps December 2015 853 90 943 December 2016 1,120 114 1,234 December 2017 1,421 150 1,571 December 2018 1,753 177 1,930 December 2019 2,023 196 2,219 At Least 25 Mbps December 2015 264 22 286 December 2016 417 35 452 December 2017 715 61 776 December 2018 1,016 90 1,106 December 2019 1,343 121 1,464 Price Cap Carrie rs Residential Business Total At Least 4 Mbps December 2015 19,169 1,426 20,595 December 2016 20,692 1,550 22,242 December 2017 22,277 1,694 23,972 December 2018 23,454 1,762 25,216 December 2019 23,879 1,772 25,650 At Least 10 Mbps December 2015 16,430 1,211 17,641 December 2016 17,946 1,338 19,284 December 2017 19,972 1,505 21,477 December 2018 21,522 1,596 23,119 December 2019 22,309 1,635 23,945 At Least 25 Mbps December 2015 7,282 511 7,794 December 2016 8,904 576 9,480 December 2017 12,350 754 13,104 December 2018 14,976 913 15,888 December 2019 16,702 999 17,701 Notes: ILEC stands for Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier. All connections below 25 Mbps have a minimum upstream speed of 1 Mbps. All connections with at least 25 Mbps have a minimum upstream of 3 Mbps. Data from 2014 - 2018 may be revised from the 2019 Monitoring Report due to respondents' refiling of Form 477. Figures may not sum to totals due to rounding. Source: FCC Form 477 Submissions. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 70 2020 Monitoring Report Table 6.15  Fixed Deployments for ILECs (in Thousands) Population in Housing Units in # of Deployed Census Rate -of-Re turn Carrie rs Deployed Census Deployed Census Blocks Blocks Blocks At Least 4 Mbps December 2015 854 9,549 4,463 December 2016 894 9,996 4,685 December 2017 926 10,300 4,833 December 2018 940 10,358 4,853 December 2019 987 10,810 5,071 At Least 10 Mbps December 2015 733 8,730 4,057 December 2016 788 9,349 4,363 December 2017 839 9,767 4,573 December 2018 859 9,848 4,620 December 2019 936 10,566 4,953 At Least 25 Mbps December 2015 435 5,593 2,594 December 2016 499 6,512 3,035 December 2017 571 7,227 3,379 December 2018 606 7,617 3,557 December 2019 724 8,798 4,111 Population in Housing Units in # of Deployed Census Price Cap Carrie rs Deployed Census Deployed Census Blocks Blocks Blocks At Least 4 Mbps December 2015 2,990 189,794 79,810 December 2016 3,615 209,928 88,054 December 2017 3,954 228,951 96,385 December 2018 3,931 229,421 96,704 December 2019 4,162 235,443 99,180 At Least 10 Mbps December 2015 2,904 187,939 78,990 December 2016 3,361 200,943 84,327 December 2017 3,791 224,541 94,470 December 2018 3,783 225,864 95,137 December 2019 4,083 233,514 98,327 At Least 25 Mbps December 2015 942 69,608 28,865 December 2016 1,842 144,462 59,386 December 2017 2,167 165,184 68,091 December 2018 2,284 172,972 71,625 December 2019 2,548 183,494 76,099 Note: ILEC stands for Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier. All connections below 25 Mbps have a minimum upstream speed of 1 Mbps. All connections of at least 25 Mbps have a minimum upstream of 3 Mbps. Note: December 2019 data based upon updated Study Area Boundaries. Source: FCC Form 477 Submissions. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 71 2020 Monitoring Report Table 6.16  Overview of Broadband Deployment by High-Cost Support Mechanism Obligations by speed class1 Deployments by speed class1 Reasonable Percent Fund 4/1 10/1 25/3 + Subtotal Request 4/1 10/1 25/3 + Total2 Complete3 ACAM 27,150 174,300 459,295 660,745 66,372 43,177 145,974 222,405 320,304 48.5% ACAMII 24,042 0 363,452 387,494 67,840 1,306 19,829 62,708 63,058 16.3% AK PLAN 1,268 12,414 49,665 63,347 0 841 2,657 24,921 26,269 41.5% CAF BLS 0 0 474,207 474,207 0 2,489 38,399 291,491 185,082 39.0% CAFII 0 3,655,908 0 3,655,908 0 0 3,011,910 251,834 3,134,817 85.7% RBE 0 1,679 25,211 26,890 0 0 1,445 29,119 24,497 91.1% 1 Obligations and deployment speeds have been condensed into the three speed classes in this table to make the data more presentable. Actual obligation and deployment speeds for each study area are listed in Supplemental Table S.6.7. Data from CAFII Auctions, Uniendo a Puerto Rico and Connect USVI Fund Stage 2 Competition are not included because the carriers have not yet reached an interim deployment obligation. 2 SACs may satisfy slower speed class obligations with higher speed deployments. Where SACs have deployed more than their required obligations for a given speed class, only the required deployments are included in the total. 3 Percent Complete equals total deployment over subtotal of obligations. Source: USAC HUBB Data as of Dec. 2, 2020. A SAC's deployment data must be reported into the HUBB by March 1 of the year following the deployment. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 72 2020 Monitoring Report Table 6.17  High Cost Supported Broadband Deployment by State Obligations by speed class1 Deployments by speed class1 Reasonable Percent State 4/1 10/1 25/3 + Subtotal Request 4/1 10/1 25/3 + Total2 Complete3 Alabama 165 129,944 33,336 163,445 299 158 122,407 12,573 129,737 79.4% Alaska 1,614 47,612 53,443 102,669 1,043 3,068 15,678 29,924 44,565 43.4% American Samoa 234 0 3,831 4,065 234 0 0 0 0.0% Arizona 1,121 49,431 19,042 69,594 3,370 447 48,561 3,536 42,340 60.8% Arkansas 538 135,607 29,902 166,047 1,237 3,804 103,938 23,208 121,430 73.1% California 303 233,015 18,886 252,204 916 551 190,234 3,990 191,627 76.0% Colorado 1,441 55,492 11,678 68,611 4,359 216 46,207 4,814 51,017 74.4% Connecticut 0 1,388 0 1,388 0 0 1,363 0 1,363 98.2% Florida 35 82,784 3,211 86,030 38 0 84,140 19,341 77,327 89.9% Georgia 402 136,791 40,839 178,032 407 868 102,713 62,716 140,248 78.8% Guam 0 0 10,972 10,972 0 0 0 3,880 3,880 35.4% Hawaii 0 11,081 0 11,081 0 0 17,322 0 11,081 100.0% Idaho 769 26,439 13,569 40,777 2,318 590 20,858 4,481 25,507 62.6% Illinois 1,397 95,482 25,042 121,921 3,671 143 74,426 18,119 85,084 69.8% Indiana 28 136,313 37,963 174,304 30 1,285 121,679 13,908 127,869 73.4% Iowa 3,096 95,615 69,857 168,568 7,761 1,262 60,741 48,712 101,945 60.5% Kansas 1,673 67,347 30,001 99,021 5,033 478 60,857 5,725 66,205 66.9% Kentucky 41 153,489 26,607 180,137 41 0 127,156 67,936 152,129 84.5% Louisiana 89 100,033 19,744 119,866 270 0 86,629 2,212 88,841 74.1% Maine 360 36,820 16,443 53,623 592 0 26,817 7,641 34,053 63.5% Maryland 0 0 815 815 0 0 0 0 0.0% Massachusetts 0 4 12 16 0 0 1 0 1 6.3% Michigan 1,190 189,056 34,262 224,508 2,940 4,874 167,128 16,022 175,407 78.1% Minnesota 5,833 182,547 111,102 299,482 11,173 1,056 145,706 39,762 176,701 59.0% Mississippi 579 149,787 30,735 181,101 1,464 1,906 132,087 16,163 133,660 73.8% Missouri 1,955 190,034 40,672 232,661 5,382 568 143,800 32,997 170,365 73.2% Montana 3,264 46,063 30,147 79,474 9,780 423 44,630 14,444 57,084 71.8% Nebraska 3,123 45,554 25,070 73,747 9,389 2,084 30,591 25,056 54,608 74.0% Nevada 295 7,361 4,301 11,957 815 210 7,150 5,436 10,533 88.1% New Hampshire 7 13,413 2,663 16,083 9 2 14,154 3,599 14,413 89.6% New Jersey 0 1,881 300 2,181 0 1 2,132 0 1,881 86.2% New Mexico 825 35,429 12,867 49,121 2,482 705 36,557 7,933 35,799 72.9% New York 189 63,970 31,737 95,896 195 113 42,906 43,804 74,505 77.7% North Carolina 0 68,267 25,353 93,620 0 32 76,982 18,124 78,081 83.4% North Dakota 4,046 9,073 42,803 55,922 11,801 0 7,726 15,889 17,985 32.2% Northern Mariana Islands 0 11,143 0 11,143 0 0 9,210 2,575 11,143 100.0% Ohio 96 168,143 12,587 180,826 101 412 136,089 12,312 143,524 79.4% Oklahoma 2,871 29,975 57,794 90,640 7,349 12,554 31,047 27,221 44,256 48.8% Oregon 1,206 53,379 21,452 76,037 2,745 1,238 44,074 12,705 53,477 70.3% Pennsylvania 42 78,778 17,407 96,227 44 54 63,945 31,835 84,769 88.1% South Carolina 131 50,897 54,605 105,633 134 78 49,982 32,688 65,836 62.3% South Dakota 4,331 18,424 46,916 69,671 13,002 605 13,962 13,756 24,321 34.9% Tennessee 239 97,884 59,031 157,154 243 187 88,068 32,007 108,014 68.7% Texas 4,188 225,029 76,048 305,265 12,361 6,031 189,492 93,380 256,100 83.9% Utah 1,299 15,104 13,055 29,458 3,905 1,311 12,935 14,604 17,781 60.4% Vermont 5 28,551 9,913 38,469 7 0 26,523 4,567 29,848 77.6% Virginia 372 55,806 24,103 80,281 766 4 48,310 6,279 52,945 65.9% Washington 323 83,597 11,286 95,206 767 122 71,733 4,732 74,955 78.7% West Virginia 434 89,864 8,961 99,259 525 159 73,100 3,317 75,969 76.5% Wisconsin 923 238,746 88,252 327,921 1,038 85 196,806 15,503 209,678 63.9% Wyoming 1,388 1,859 13,215 16,462 4,176 129 1,662 3,052 4,140 25.1% Nationwide 52,460 3,844,301 1,371,830 5,268,591 134,212 47,813 3,220,214 882,478 3,754,027 71.3% Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 73 2020 Monitoring Report 1 Obligations and deployment speeds have been condensed into the three speed classes in this table to make the data more presentable. Actual obligation and deployment speeds for each study area are listed in Supplemental Table S.6.7. This table includes information for ACAM, ACAMII, AK Plan, CAF BLS, CAF II Model and RBE. Data from CAFII Auctions, Uniendo a Puerto Rico and Connect USVI Fund Stage 2 Competition are not included because the carriers have not yet reached an interim deployment obligation. 2 SACs may satisfy slower speed class obligations with higher speed deployments. Where SACs have deployed more than their required obligations for a given speed class, only the required deployments are included in the total. 3 Percent Complete equals total deployment over subtotal of obligations. Source: USAC HUBB Data as of Dec. 2, 2020. A SAC's deployment data must be reported into the HUBB by March 1 of the year following the deployment. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 74 2020 Monitoring Report Section 7  Price Indices This section contains information on telephone price indices using data from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) maintained by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS collects information on telephone service as part of the CPI.12 The monthly price indices represent prices sampled in the middle of the month. The CPI for telephone services is based on a  market basket intended to represent the telephone- related expenditures of a typical urban household. It includes both land-line telephone service and wireless telephone service. In January 2010, BLS discontinued collecting four land-line telephone indices, including local charges, long distance charges, interstate toll calls, and intrastate toll calls. These four indices were combined into a single land-line telephone service index, which began in December 2009. The Producer Price Index (PPI), also published by BLS, continues to release sub-indices for telephone services. We no longer include them in this report because they have become less meaningful as the bundling of telephone services has become more common in the land-line telephone industry.13 12 BLS publishes two sets of Consumer Price Indices. The CPI-U, used herein, is based on expenditures of all urban consumers. The CPI-W series is based on expenditures of urban wage earners and clerical workers. Monthly CPI data can be found on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cpi/. 13 PPI data are available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/ppi/. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 75 2020 Monitoring Report Table 7.1  Long-Term Changes for Various Price Indices (Compounded Average Percentage Growth Rate) 1970 - 2019 2009 - 2019 CPI All Items (SA0) 3.9 1.8 CPI All Services (SAS) 4.7 2.3 CPI Telephone Services (SEED) 1.4 - 1.1 CPI Major Categories: - Food & Beverages (SAF) 3.8 1.6 - Housing (SAH) 4.2 2.0 - Apparel (SAA) 1.4 0.2 - Transportation (SAT) 3.6 2.2 - Medical Care (SAM) 5.7 3.0 - Recreation (SAR) * 0.6 - Other Goods & Services (SAG) 5.0 2.4 CPI Public Transportation (SETG) 4.2 0.5 CPI Utility (Piped) Gas Service (SEHF02) 4.5 - 2.6 CPI Electricity (SEHF01) 3.9 1.0 CPI Water & Sewerage Maint. (SEHG01) 5.9 4.8 CPI Postage (SEEC01) 4.5 3.3 * Series not established until after 1969. Note: The CPI Telephone Services index was revised in December of 1997. To calculate values in this table, Series MUUR0000SE270A is used for periods prior to this revision and CUUR0000SEED is used for periods after the revision. After each row, the series ID is provided and should be proceeded by CUUR0000 when referencing the series. Note: The Compound Annual Growth Rate is a smoothed rate of growth calculated in three steps. First, divide the ending value by the beginning value. Second, raise the result of that division to a power equal to one divided by the number of years in the period. Finally, subtract 1 from the result of the second step. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 76 2020 Monitoring Report Table 7.2  Annual Changes in CPI Telephone Services and all Items Indices Wireless All Goods and Telephone Land-line Telephone Services Services Telephone Services Services BLS Series ID CURR0000SA0 CUUR0000SEED CUUR0000SEED04 CUUR0000SEED03 2000 3.4 -2.3 * -12.3 2001 1.6 1.3 * -5.5 2002 2.4 0.2 * 0.3 2003 1.9 -2.7 * -1.3 2004 3.3 -2.5 * -1.4 2005 3.4 0.4 * -1.5 2006 2.5 1.7 * 0.0 2007 4.1 2.1 * -0.9 2008 0.1 2.9 * 0.5 2009 2.7 1.0 * -1.1 2010 1.5 -0.9 2.2 -3.6 2011 3.0 -0.3 1.9 -2.3 2012 1.7 0.3 1.9 -0.8 2013 1.5 0.0 3.0 -2.0 2014 0.8 -2.1 1.8 -4.0 2015 0.7 0.7 2.2 0.0 2016 2.1 -2.8 0.9 -4.2 2017 2.1 -6.5 2.2 -10.2 2018 1.9 -2.4 0.0 -3.2 2019 2.3 1.6 6.9 -0.3 * Series not established until December 2009. Note: Values report the percent change from December of the previous year through December of the year shown. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 77 2020 Monitoring Report Table 7.3  Monthly Consumer Price Indices (December 2009 = 100) All Goods and Land-line Telephone Wireless Telephone Telephone Services Services Services Services BLS Series ID CUUR0000SA0 CUUR0000SEED CUUR0000SEED04 CUUR0000SEED03 2016 January 109.71 97.73 114.60 87.77 February 109.80 97.13 115.14 86.86 March 110.27 97.08 114.90 86.88 April 110.80 97.10 114.88 86.90 May 111.25 96.69 114.88 86.39 June 111.62 96.56 114.23 86.42 July 111.43 96.33 114.02 86.20 August 111.53 96.42 114.71 86.10 September 111.80 95.25 113.78 84.92 October 111.94 94.89 113.78 84.46 November 111.76 94.84 114.42 84.20 December 111.80 94.87 114.84 84.12 2017 January 112.45 94.81 115.01 83.98 February 112.81 94.21 116.45 82.79 March 112.90 89.55 116.16 77.01 April 113.23 88.54 116.37 75.68 May 113.33 88.33 115.70 75.62 June 113.43 87.84 115.64 75.02 July 113.35 87.74 116.04 74.78 August 113.69 87.74 116.17 74.73 September 114.30 87.89 115.89 75.01 October 114.22 88.17 115.94 75.35 November 114.23 88.50 116.53 75.58 December 114.16 88.67 117.34 75.54 2018 January 114.78 88.56 117.47 75.39 February 115.30 88.24 117.67 74.98 March 115.56 88.21 116.73 75.16 April 116.02 88.19 116.52 75.18 May 116.50 88.32 116.81 75.26 June 116.50 88.36 117.12 75.24 July 116.70 88.48 117.79 75.24 August 116.76 88.13 117.50 74.90 September 116.90 88.21 117.94 74.90 October 117.10 88.03 116.67 74.97 November 116.71 86.63 117.06 73.29 December 116.34 86.54 117.32 73.13 2019 January 116.56 86.55 117.87 73.02 February 117.05 86.52 118.19 72.92 March 117.71 86.52 118.59 72.83 April 118.34 86.66 118.71 72.97 May 118.59 86.72 119.25 72.92 June 118.61 86.89 119.69 73.01 July 118.81 86.99 120.45 72.97 August 118.80 86.95 120.67 72.87 September 118.90 87.16 122.14 72.80 October 119.17 87.38 123.47 72.76 November 119.11 87.80 125.03 72.90 December 119.00 87.91 125.44 72.94 2020 January 119.46 88.14 127.49 72.93 February 119.79 88.03 127.92 72.77 March 119.53 88.03 128.00 72.76 April 118.73 88.23 129.07 72.83 May 118.73 88.22 128.52 72.88 June 119.38 88.10 128.17 72.80 July 119.98 90.72 128.04 75.45 Note: Series values for All Goods and Services are converted from the 1982-1984 base index series reported by the Bureau of Labor 'Statistics (BLS). Series values for Telephone Services and Wireless Telephone Services are converted from the December 1997 base 'index series reported by BLS. Series are not seasonally adjusted. Series may be referenced via the BLS website with the Series ID 'listed at the top of each column. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service 78 2020 Monitoring Report