The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) has issued a Report on voice services in the schools and libraries universal service support mechanism (more commonly known as the E-rate program). The Report notes that with the transition of E-Rate funding support away from voice to broadband services, fewer applicants have applied for voice services funding, though the majority of applicants that formerly received E-rate support for voice services continue to receive support for other services. E-rate funding for voice services will be entirely phased out by funding year 2019. The phasedown of support for voice services includes local phone service, long distance service, plain old telephone service (POTS), radio loop, 800 service, satellite telephone, shared telephone service, Centrex, wireless telephone service, and interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
