美国联邦上诉法院周四表示，联邦通信委员会在20世纪90年代末设立一项电信补贴计划时超越了其职权范围，该计划旨在扩大数百万美国人的通信服务覆盖。
A U.S. federal appeals court said on Thursday the Federal Communications Commission exceeded its authority in setting up a telecoms subsidy program in the late 1990s used to widen access to communications for millions of Americans.
联邦通信委员会通过一家私营公司向电信运营商收取资金，用于所谓的“普遍服务基金”，该基金为农村和低收入地区的消费者提供基本通信服务的补贴。
The FCC collects funds from telecom carriers through a private company for the so-called "Universal Service Fund" that subsidizes basic communications services for consumers in rural and low-income areas.
然而，第五巡回上诉法院法官伊迪丝·布朗·克莱门特表示，联邦通信委员会在1997年缺乏法律授权，无法设立普遍服务管理公司（USAC）来收取资金并设定缴费比例。
However, the FCC lacked legal authority in 1997 to establish the company, the Universal Service Administrative Co, to collect the funds and set contribution rates, said Judge Edith Brown Clement.
她在三人小组的意见中写道：“由于国会从未具体授权联邦通信委员会设立USAC，我们认为该机构违反了《政府公司控制法》。”
"Because Congress never specifically authorized the FCC to establish USAC, we hold that the agency violated the Government Corporation Control Act," she wrote for a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
联邦通信委员会发言人在回应周四的裁决时表示，该委员会正在考虑其可采取的所有选项。
The FCC was considering all options available to it, a spokesperson said in response to Thursday's decision.
发言人在一份声明中补充道：“尽管法院今天对联邦通信委员会近30年前作出的决定提出异议，但该命令最早也要两个月后才会生效。”
"While the court takes issue today with an FCC decision made almost 30 years ago, the court’s order would not go into effect until two months from now, at the earliest," the spokesperson added in a statement.
该基金每年约为90亿美元，绝大多数电信公司会将该费用转嫁给客户。
The fund draws about $9 billion a year, with the vast majority of telecoms companies passing on the cost to customers.
除了低收入和农村地区，该基金还被用于扩大美洲原住民部落土地的服务覆盖，以及帮助学校、图书馆和农村医疗机构获得基本通信服务。
In addition to low-income and rural areas, the fund has been used to widen services to Native American tribal lands, as well as enabling schools, libraries and rural health care facilities to obtain essential communications services.
2025年6月，美国最高法院认可了联邦通信委员会为这一价值数十亿美元的项目筹集资金的方式。
In June 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court endorsed the way the FCC funds the multi-billion dollar program.
该裁决推翻了第五巡回上诉法院此前的一项裁决，即联邦通信委员会通过强制电信公司缴纳的资金机制实际上对消费者征收了一项“毫无根据的税”。
The ruling overturned an earlier Fifth Circuit decision that the FCC's funding mechanism employing mandatory contributions from telecoms companies had effectively levied a "misbegotten tax" on consumers.
美国电信运营商从普遍服务基金获得数十亿美元的付款，数百万消费者依赖此类政府补贴服务进行互联网接入或电话服务。
U.S. telecom providers get billions of dollars in payments from the Universal Service Fund and millions of consumers rely on such government-subsidized services for internet access or phone service.
2024年，FCC项目惠及750万低收入家庭，并向电信公司提供42亿美元，以便在难以覆盖的农村地区提供高速互联网服务。
In 2024, the FCC program benefited 7.5 million low-income households and gave telecom companies $4.2 billion to provide high-speed internet service in hard-to-serve rural areas.
该项目还在三年内向11.8万所学校和图书馆提供70亿美元，用于为5400万学生提供互联网服务。FCC受国会监督，成立于1934年，是一个独立的联邦机构。
It also gave 118,000 schools and libraries $7 billion over a three-year period for internet service for 54 million students. The FCC, overseen by Congress, was set up as an independent federal agency in 1934.