FCC Updates Lifeline Minimum Service Standards, Budget, as Directed by 2016 Order
FCC staff updated Lifeline minimum service standards and slightly increased its budget, implementing aspects of a 2016 order overhauling the agency's USF low-income broadband/telecom subsidy program. Starting Dec. 1, the Lifeline minimum service standard for fixed broadband speed will be…
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15/2 Mbps (down/up), as calculated from Form 477 data, with an exception for providers that don't offer any generally available residential fixed broadband packages meeting the standard at a subscriber's residence (those providers must offer at least 4/1 Mbps), said a Wireline Bureau public notice Monday in docket 11-42. It noted the fixed broadband data-allotment minimum will be 250 GBs per month, as calculated from urban rate survey data. The PN said the 2016 order included an automatic increase in Lifeline's mobile broadband data-allotment minimum to 1 GB per month, while retaining a 3G technology minimum speed standard. The order also included an automatic update of the Lifeline mobile voice minimum to 750 minutes per month on Dec. 1. To incorporate inflation indexing, as required by the order, the Lifeline budget for calendar year 2018 will increase from the current $2.25 billion to $2.279 billion, the PN said.