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AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and four other telecom companies are offering a proposal to overhaul the $8 billion federal phone subsidy program to pay for high-speed Internet connections in rural and other underserved areas.

They say the plan, which was filed with the Federal Communications Commission Friday, would bring broadband service to nearly all Americans within five years.

The proposal is one of dozens that the FCC will likely receive as it seeks to bring the federal program, called the Universal Service Fund, into the digital age. The agency voted unanimously in February to begin drafting a blueprint to modernize the fund.

But the new plan is particularly significant since it has the backing of six key telecommunications companies that are some of the biggest recipients of Universal Service dollars. In addition to AT&T and Verizon, the nation's two largest phone companies, the plan is supported by CenturyLink Inc., Fairpoint Communications Inc., Frontier Communications Corp. and Windstream Corp.

"To truly bring broadband services to all Americans, the rules of the road for the black rotary phone desperately needed to be updated for today's competitive, high-speed communications networks," said Hank Hultquist, vice president of federal regulatory at AT&T.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_914288.html