Groups Ask FCC to Pause Lifeline Minimum Service Standard Changes for Marketplace Study
CTIA and several advocacy groups asked the FCC Wireline Bureau to pause changes to Lifeline minimum service standards until the agency reviews a marketplace study due in two years, they said in a joint petition Thursday in docket 11-42. Two…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
changes in question would otherwise take effect on Dec. 1 (see 1809170036). The Lifeline program would impose a fivefold increase in the minimum required broadband data usage allowance, "upsetting the balance the Commission intended to strike in 2016 between affordability and reasonable comparability." The second change would phase down Lifeline support for voice services. The petition notes "upwards of 40 percent of current Lifeline subscribers" still rely on the program for voice service plans. "Given the current mobile wireless market, allowing the two changes to go into effect would restrict eligible low-income consumers' access to, and undermine the affordability of, Lifeline broadband and voice service offerings to the detriment of those the program is designed to help and before the Commission has the benefit of a marketplace analysis," the petition said. The National Consumer Law Center, National Hispanic Media Coalition, OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates and the United Church of Christ Office of Communication co-signed the petition.