The FCC has released the Third Quarter Contribution Factor: 17.1%. I have the 3Q factor from 2014 handy from a previous post, so let's see how things have changed over the last year.
That's a 9% increase in the contribution factor! What caused the jump? Let me dump all the data into a spreadsheet and see what happened.
Well, it's not due to a jump in spending. Total demand is up less than 1% (an 8% decrease over at Low Income compensating for a 4% increase in E-Rate and a 15% increase from Rural Health Care).
The problem is a 6% drop in the contribution base. People just aren't making enough long distance calls. I found the Contribution Factor announcement from early 2007 in a previous post, and the contribution base has dropped 20% since then. It sure does seem like the FCC is going to have to end its forbearance of USF fees for ISPs.
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