The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to review the constitutionality of a federal program designed to boost telecom services in schools, libraries, low-income and rural areas.

The justices said they would hear appeals by the Federal Communications Commission and the nation’s major telecom companies seeking to overturn a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit's decision, which both the government and private industry warned would jeopardize internet and phone services for millions of Americans who rely on subsidies provided by the Universal Service Fund.