Establishing universal telecommunications service in the form of law
The concept of universal service was put forward in the American Telecommunications Act of 1934, and the American universal service system was established in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The 1997 Universal Service Act promulgated by FCC stipulates the specific implementation of universal service. In the following years, the FCC promulgated a series of provisions as a supplement to the Universal Service Act, which further improved the universal service system in the United States. Australian Telecommunications Law 1997 clearly stipulates that the main content of Australian Universal Service Obligation (USO) is to "ensure that all Australian citizens can reasonably obtain standard telephone services, paid public telephone services and prescribed transmission services on a fair basis". Later, the Universal Service Price Cap Law and the Consumer Rights and Service Standards Law were promulgated one after another, and the universal service management system was gradually established and improved. NTP'94, India's first national telecommunications policy, wrote universal service into the policy document for the first time, and defined it as providing specific basic telecommunications services to all citizens at affordable and reasonable prices. NTP'99 of 1999 emphasizes the provision of telecommunication services to areas with low population density, including rural and remote areas, mountainous areas and tribal areas. ) is one of the main goals of universal service obligation. In the amendment of Indian Telecommunications Law in 2004, the content of universal service fund was written into law, making it become law. 1994, the Chilean government promulgated the General Law on Telecommunications, put forward the concept of universal service, and established that the main goal of universal service is to promote the popularization of telecommunications services in rural areas and some low-income urban areas (especially remote areas) or remote areas.
Adopt telecom universal service fund as value compensation mechanism
Operators who have successfully implemented universal service in the world have replaced traditional cross-subsidies with universal service funds. The main target of universal service fund is telecom operators. For example, in 2002, the total amount of universal service funds in the United States was $5.86 billion, accounting for about 2% of US telecom revenue. All telephone users in the United States have to pay the universal service fund fee every month, which is collected by the operators first, then submitted to the state and federal finance (* * * together constitute the universal service fund), and finally distributed to those operators who invest in high-cost and low-income areas. Australia also uses universal service fund to subsidize the loss of universal service, and the specific subsidy method is the operation and maintenance cost subsidy method in cost subsidy. In 2002, Australia's telecom revenue was A $65.438+0.338 billion, and the total amount of universal service fund collection accounted for about 65.438+0.4% of telecom revenue. In India, all operators except ISP have proposed 5% of adjusted gross revenue as universal service fund, and the scale of universal service fund in India has reached 500 million US dollars per year.
Establish a special universal service fund management institution.
Specialized universal service fund management institutions are responsible for the collection, distribution and use of universal service funds, as well as the formulation of relevant documents of universal service funds. In the United States, FCC is only the supervision department of telecom universal service, which is responsible for the supervision of policy formulation and implementation, while the specialized universal service fund management institution is a non-profit organization authorized by the government and the executor of universal service policy, which is specifically responsible for the project management and fund management of universal service. In Australia, telecommunications universal service management is directly under the responsibility of Communication Administration (ACA), and the specific department is Universal Service Obligation Department (USO), which is composed of three groups: fund group, subsidy group and supervision group, and is responsible for the management of universal service fund, the evaluation of universal service cost and the supervision of telecom companies' performance of universal service obligations. The Universal Service Fund in India is managed by the Fund Management Department. Because the operator is selected through bidding, an important responsibility of the fund management department is to formulate bidding procedures, including the terms of bidding, and then evaluate the bidding scheme. After completing the above affairs, the fund management department will sign some agreements with telecom operators, and the fund management department will also be responsible for accepting claims from universal service operators.
Implement universal service projects through tendering/bidding.
In terms of the use of funds, most operators in various countries implement universal service projects through bidding/competitive bidding, and the lowest bidder can get subsidies to ensure the lowest cost of universal service. Through bidding, a lot of work done by the government to accurately calculate the cost subsidy can be avoided. Australian regulators first designated traditional operators as voluntary providers of universal services. Every year, the regulator announces the areas where losses are caused by providing universal services, calculates the cost of universal services with avoidable cost method, and makes the results public. If other operators can produce valid certificates to prove that they can provide universal services at a lower cost, they can compete for the franchise of universal services. The bidding for universal service projects in India is carried out by region, and the national universal service task is divided into 2 1 telecom region. Before bidding in each region, the fund management department conducts investigation and study (the required data shall be reported by the operator). According to the physical geography and population characteristics of this area, the fund management department hired experts to develop an engineering mathematical model, find out the most effective access service model, and then calculate how much investment this area needs according to this model. On this basis, the fund management department put forward the highest subsidy bidding. In the bidding process, there are usually several operators in a region to participate in the competition. In order to make this policy more transparent, the government selects the operator with the lowest quotation through bidding (this quotation should be lower than the maximum subsidy) to provide access services in this area. In Chile, MTT determines to build several telephone points every year, which are generally concentrated in small villages with 2000 ~ 3000 people. The general government establishes 6000 telephone points, then calculates the cost, sorts them, decides the subsidy amount of the fund, and invites bids from operators. Subsidies are mainly used for equipment purchase, installation and operation costs. It is generally believed that operators can break even within 65,438+00 years, and begin to make profits after 65,438+00 years. Therefore, subsidized operators should ensure that the telephone points have been in operation for more than 65,438+00 years.