Some Lifeline Carriers Oppose TracFone, Sprint Lifeline Mobile Broadband Requests
Lifeline providers asked the FCC to deny TracFone and Sprint requests for clarification of mobile broadband minimum standards for the low-income USF subsidy program. A group of mobile "eligible telecom carriers" said Lifeline rules don't require ETCs to provide smartphones…
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to subscribers, but they agreed consumers receiving offers of mobile broadband internet access service (BIAS) should have devices that can handle such service. "A 3G-capable feature phone with web browsing functionality used in connection with a plan offering the minimum required data allotment enables consumers to access BIAS in a manner that meets the FCC’s mobile BIAS minimum service standards," said the reply, posted Friday in docket 11-42, by Assist Wireless, American Broadband and Telecommunications, Blue Jay Wireless, Easy Telephone Services and Amerimex Communications. The rules don't "limit the definition of mobile BIAS to licensed, cellular data connections," they wrote: "The Commission should continue to advance the central goals of innovation and consumer choice in the Lifeline Modernization Order by permitting Lifeline providers to offer consumers meaningful alternatives to traditional cellular data, including mobile BIAS plans that rely on alternative technologies such as unlicensed spectrum." TracFone replied that Sprint, consumer groups and a state regulatory commission shared its concerns "about abuses of the minimum service standards and the abuse" of a 12-month "port-freeze" rule (see 1703030025). Telrite replied the FCC shouldn't play "innovation gatekeeper" in Lifeline but let consumers decide which offerings work best for them.