For almost 70 years, the nation has made a policy commitment to make telephone service available to as many Americans as possible - rich or poor, rural or urban. When Congress passed the Communications Act in 1934, it established the concept of universal service as a PRINCIPLE to promote the development and reach of the national telephone network by distributing costs across various services and USERS in order to connect all segments of the American public.

Universal service recognizes the economic reality that the cost of providing telephone service in rural areas such as where Public Service Telephone operates, is SIGNIFICANTLY higher than in well-populated, urban parts of the country, but that the nation as a whole benefits from a network that connects to as many Americans as possible. We can LOOK on universal service as a system by which EVERYONE benefits because everyone else has a telephone. Because of universal service, independent companies serving high-cost rural areas have been assured of appropriate recognition of their costs, and Americans have been assured of quality telephone service at reasonable rates, no matter where they live.

For almost 70 years, the nation has made a policy commitment to make telephone service available to as many Americans as possible - rich or poor, rural or urban. When Congress passed the Communications Act in 1934, it established the concept of universal service as a principle to promote the development and reach of the national telephone network by distributing costs across various services and users in order to connect all segments of the American public.

Universal service recognizes the economic reality that the cost of providing telephone service in rural areas such as where Public Service Telephone operates, is significantly higher than in well-populated, urban parts of the country, but that the nation as a whole benefits from a network that connects to as many Americans as possible. We can look on universal service as a system by which everyone benefits because everyone else has a telephone. Because of universal service, independent companies serving high-cost rural areas have been assured of appropriate recognition of their costs, and Americans have been assured of quality telephone service at reasonable rates, no matter where they live.