Lifeline Advocates Hit FCC Draft Item as 'Drastic Departure' From Pai's Digital Divide Claims
An FCC draft Lifeline item is "a drastic departure" from Chairman Ajit Pai's "claims to support affordable broadband for low-income consumers suffering from the digital divide," said the Lifeline Connects Coalition, Boomerang Wireless and Easy Wireless in a filing posted…
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Friday in docket 11-42 on a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. "Because the item eliminates resellers from the Tribal Lifeline program and proposes to eliminate resellers from the entire Lifeline program, despite the fact that 69 percent of all Lifeline subscribers (and 76 percent of wireless subscribers) are currently served by resellers, we urged Commissioner Clyburn’s office to work to change the item so that it does not threaten to suddenly and dramatically widen the affordability gap that places tens of millions of low-income Americans on the wrong side of the digital divide," they said. The draft is on the tentative agenda for the FCC's Nov. 16 meeting (see 1710270013). Meanwhile, TracFone Wireless submitted an emergency petition to the FCC to temporarily waive new minimum service standards for Lifeline-supported services. As of Dec. 1, "the minimum service standard for mobile voice service will increase from 500 minutes per month to 750 minutes per month; the minimum standard for mobile broadband will increase from 500 MB per month to 1 GB per month," TracFone said, asking for a waiver to implement service proposals it made in September.