One of guiding principles of telecommunications policy has been achieving the goal of "universal service," — providing access to affordable telephone service to everyone in the country, whether low income, disabled, or living in rural areas, where a small number of customers scattered over great distances would lead to higher charges based on higher network costs. Programs to achieve this goal are part of the federal Universal Service Fund, supported by surcharges on interstate and international phone service. Most individual states also have universal service funds.
