FCC Chairman Brendan Carr circulated an order to reject a request to expand a COVID-era waiver. The order denies a request by Lifeline providers to extend the FCC’s waiver of the program’s non-usage rules.
The Lifeline program provides support for communications services to qualifying low-income customers. Participating companies may claim Lifeline support for voice and broadband services only if the subscriber has recently used the service.
On March 30, 2020, the Commission temporarily waived this requirement to ensure that no Lifeline subscribers involuntarily lost connectivity during the pandemic. The Commission ended the waiver on April 30, 2021. The petitioners, Assist Wireless, Boomerang Wireless, Easy Wireless and i-wireless, sought Lifeline reimbursement for unused services through May 1, 2021.
If adopted by a vote of the full Commission, the order would affirm the Wireline Competition Bureau’s decision that the COVID-19 relief waiver period for non-usage ended on April 30, 2021, and that the petitioners are not entitled to an extra month of support for unused services. “The American public pays for the federal subsidies that support the agency’s Lifeline program. This rule prohibits Lifeline providers from obtaining federal subsidies for services that subscribers are not using,” explained FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.
“One way we police waste, fraud, and abuse is through enforcement of the FCC’s non-usage rule. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the FCC provided a limited waiver of the non-usage rule. But the petitioners here have tried to extend that waiver—and thus obtain millions of dollars in federal subsidies—after the relevant time period ended.”
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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