AT&T wants the seven largest and most profitable technology companies, THAT IS Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla to help subsidize internet and phone access in the US

AT&T Chief Executive John Stankey said Monday at a telecom forum that big tech companies should be required to contribute to Universal Service Fund (USF), a federal program that spends 8 billion dollars one year on phone, internet and other telecommunication services.

The fund supports customers with lower incomes, customers who live in rural areas or those who live in high-cost areas. It also brings Internet and phone service to eligible schools and libraries.

“Seven of the largest and most profitable companies in the world built their franchises on the Internet and the infrastructure that we provide,” Stankey said, per a Reuters report.

“Why shouldn't they participate in ensuring affordable and equitable access to today's services that are as essential as the phone lines of yesteryear?” he added.

^{John Stankey, CEO of AT&T. Credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images}

As a telecommunications company operating in the US, AT&T is Wanted to contribute to USF.

The fund gets one PERCENT of AT&T's revenue, starting at 15.5%.

AT&T charges its customers a Universal Connectivity Fee based on the USF percentage – so at the end of the day, AT&T customers pay an additional cost that goes to the fund.

“In the competitive industry we are in, we cannot afford to absorb the USF-related costs that have been imposed on AT&T,” a company website said. read.

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Stankey isn't the only AT&T executive to draw attention to USF's charge recently. Earlier this month, AT&T executive vice president of federal regulatory affairs Rhonda Johnson has written that the company's USF contribution percentage was now 34.4% — and had remained above 30% for the past four quarters.

Johnson wrote that Congress should expand USF's funding sources to “technology companies — like Meta and Google — that use consumer broadband connections.”

These big tech companies have benefited from having Americans online and should also contribute to a reformed fund, according to Johnson.

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