The to 4 million U.S residents who do not have it now, supporters said. The plan would phase out subsidies for rural telephone service under the USF, with the subsidies for traditional voice service ending in 2016. The plan would transition the USF's high-cost fund, which now pays telephone subsidies, to broadband and cap it at the current level of US$4.5 billion a year.

A tax on telephone bills pays for the USF.

Three trade groups representing small carriers, the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA), the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies and the Western Telecommunications Alliance, have signed on to the proposal.

But the proposal doesn't enjoy universal support from small carriers. In late July, a group of more than 55 of them wrote a letter opposing the plan, and about 20 more small carriers have signed on since then.

The USF proposal would provide a "windfall" to AT&T and Verizon, said the letter, signed by small telecoms in Nebraska, Alaska, Louisiana and other states. The proposal "does not meet the needs of the millions of customers we serve in rural America," said the letter, sent to trade groups representing small carriers. "It is simply a bad deal for rural America!"