​The services provided by Maryland Relay, including Relay calling options and assistive equipment distribution, are underwritten by the Universal Service Trust Fund (USTF).

USTF is funded by a telecommunications subscriber surcharge, which is collected by communications companies that provide landline telephone service, wireless/cellular telephone service, or Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service in Maryland. The surcharge for each fiscal year is determined by the Secretary of the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) and the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC). Learn more about the current USTF surcharge.