Wireless Parties Hopeful FCC Will Modify Lifeline Mobile Voice Proposals
Some wireless parties are increasingly hopeful the FCC will relax Lifeline proposals to impose minimum broadband and voice service standards and phase out support for stand-alone mobile voice by late 2019. "We're getting a strong vibe that they're likely to change," said Davis Wright attorney Danielle Frappier, who represents True Wireless and TerraCom. She said the concerns of wireless interests, public interest advocates and others appear to be registering with agency officials. "To their credit, they've taken those filings seriously and are rethinking it. I think they're doing the right thing," she told us Thursday.
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Kelley Drye attorney John Heitmann, who represents the Lifeline Connects Coalition of small wireless providers, said his group is hopeful the draft's proposed mandate for unlimited mobile talk by Dec. 1 will be pushed back and/or eased. A Lifeline modernization order is to be considered at the commission's March 31 meeting, said the agenda released Thursday. The FCC is looking to extend Lifeline's USF low-income support to broadband and streamline administration to increase efficiency and curtail abuse. FCC officials, many of whom were in lobbyist meetings, had no comment Thursday.
Wireless advocates were encouraged by FCC comments at a recent House hearing, particularly Commissioner Mignon Clyburn's acknowledgement of the mobile voice concerns (see 1603220053). Total Call General Counsel Mike Morrissey said he was "heartened" by suggestions the commissioners were seriously evaluating the concerns and said all of his company's meetings have been "positive," focusing on the issues and possible solutions. He said his group's members support the broadband extension and are hopeful of moving to unlimited talk, but the FCC's Dec. 1 deadline, with a gradual phaseout of Lifeline support for standalone mobile voice by December 2019, was a "little too aggressive" because of the cost structure. He said unlimited talk effectively forces low-income consumers to make co-pays most can't afford. TracFone said in a filing in docket 11-42 that the costs of unlimited talk and text are higher than the FCC's $9.25 Lifeline monthly support per household.
Frappier said the problem isn't that Lifeline mobile providers could be required to offer unlimited minutes but that they wouldn't be allowed to offer alternatives. "Basically, they didn't leave any room for options. It's just go straight to 'everybody has to offer unlimited,'" she said. TracFone and others have proposed the FCC give Lifeline providers the ability to offer both unlimited talk, with co-pays, and plans offering certain amounts of voice minutes without co-pays. Frappier said a 500-minute minimum is one possibility.
Frappier said the proposed Lifeline phaseout for stand-alone mobile voice was premature. "It should be eliminated until they conclude that the marketplace has gotten to the point where it can be done without a co-pay; and until providers can offer broadband, and we can get them a smartphone, and all of that can be done for $9.25 a month," she said. She said she is hopeful the FCC is rethinking the schedule. "I think that's hitting home," Morrissey said. "I think the idea that for now there needs to be a Lifeline-supported mobile voice-only offer without co-pays is resonating.”
The FCC anticipates doing a review in mid-2019 before completing the Lifeline stand-alone mobile voice phaseout. Sprint said in a filing the agency should do annual reviews "based on evolving market conditions."