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posted by takyon on Tuesday September 04 2018, @07:25PM   Printer-friendly
from the flatline dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Millions could lose cheap phone service under FCC's overhaul of Lifeline

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, appointed to the post by President Donald Trump, wants to remove a majority of wireless providers that participate in the Lifeline program in an attempt to eliminate "waste, fraud, and abuse." If such a move were made, the "chaos would be magnificent," said David Dorwart, the chairman of the National Lifeline Association (NaLA), a trade organization that represents Lifeline businesses.

Roughly 10.7 million Americans receive text, voice, and data under the program, and 70 percent would have to look for a new service provider under the proposal, according to NaLA, if an affordable option is even available. The program cost about $1.3 billion dollars in 2017, and the funding comes from the Universal Service Fund, which is collected from phone subscribers by service providers.

[...] The proposal, introduced by the commission in November of 2017, would limit the Lifeline program to providers that own their networks. This would effectively eliminate "resellers," or providers who instead lease space on a network. Such providers service more than 70 percent of Lifeline participants. The program has been criticized in the past for fraud. It has been the subject of several reports from the Government Accountability Office, which highlighted "significant risks" for abuse.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Snotnose on Wednesday September 05 2018, @12:52AM

    by Snotnose (1623) on Wednesday September 05 2018, @12:52AM (#730570)

    I hate Ajit as much as the rest of you, but don't really see this as A Bad Thing (tm). This sort of thing spurs competition which, dangit, Pai hates.

    give me credit for posting this under my name, but IMHO he's promoting competition.

    That said, I live in a major city. I have 2 choices for internet/TV: Cox (with whom I have internet service only) and U-verse (who I had for 9 years until they priced themselves out of reality).

    / FWIW, after 3 months Cox reliability is a solid C
    // My only problem with U-verse was the price
    /// Spent $300 on hardware, went from $145 uverse to $15 cox internet. I'm ok with that.

    --
    Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
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