nd to make these services available for a defined period of years. By the year 2020, the FCC envisions access fees reduced to zero and compensa- tion between carriers closer to the arrangements between carriers at peering locations on the Internet. These arrangements are based on charges for the amount of traffic exchanged, not minutes of traffic. Peering locations are data centers that house routers and switches that belong to multiple carriers. Carriers use these facilities to connect with one another to exchange traffic destined for locations outside of their coverage areas. Regulatory Issues In addition, support for carriers in rural and hard-to-cable areas will be replaced by the Connect America Fund, which will support ongoing maintenance and operations of broadband wireline and wireless networks. Moreover, these carriers will no longer receive funding based on rate of return analysis. Rather, price cap systems will be insti- tuted SO that carriers will have incentives to operate efficiently rather than guaranteed revenues. With price caps, carriers agree to impose an upper limit on their rates and keep them at an agreed-upon level for a specific number of years. ICC Reform The FCC's final NPRM, issued in October 2011, finalized rules to reform ICC. It adopted rules to stop access stimulation, traffic pumping, and phantom calls. It addi- tionally adopted a framework for bill and keep as well as rules for gradually setting the same rates for intrastate and interstate intercarrier compensation. FCC Approval of Funding for Universal Broadband In October 2011, the FCC finalized rules to include affordable broadband in universal service for rural and other underserved areas. Unlike the previous universal service fund, the new fund will support wireline and mobile broadband as well as voice. The FCC defined broadband as 4Mbps downstream (from the provider to the customer) and 1Mbps upstream (from the customer to the provider). Currently, 18 million households in the United States do not have broadband access. The