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Postpone Changes, They Say

NARUC, Consumer Groups Argue for Choice in Support of Lifeline Voice

NARUC, CTIA and consumer advocacy groups asked the FCC to postpone plans to change minimum service requirements for Lifeline until it can review a market study that's underway. That's per replies posted through Friday to docket 11-42. NARUC at the most recent meeting of state telecom commissioners asked the federal regulator to postpone such changes (see 1907230040).

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Maintaining USF support for voice-only Lifeline "promotes consumer choice," said NARUC: "Some consumers simply want a phone -- not broadband service." It said if the FCC allows new minimum standards for broadband to take effect December, "the new standards might well effectively impose a $30 per month price increase on Lifeline subscribers," or an increase that "low-income subscribers cannot afford."

CTIA filed with the National Consumer Law Center on behalf of advocacy groups including the National Hispanic Media Coalition. They said more than 40 percent of current Lifeline subscribers rely on voice services, and a phasedown of support for voice services "would restrict consumers' ability to apply their Lifeline subsidy to the services that they need most." If the FCC denies the petition to postpone its minimum service standard changes, the groups said, the decision could have "unintended consequences" of taking support away "from eligible low-income consumers most in need of access to the public safety, educational and occupational opportunities that Lifeline enables."

The Chicago Urban League and National Association for Black Veterans together said the FCC should pause an announced increase in the minimum service standard for mobile broadband service from 2 GB monthly to 8.75 GB and also pause the phasedown in support for voice-only Lifeline services (see 1907310074). Only Lifeline focuses on the "affordability of essential voice telephone service and broadband Internet access service for low-income households, helping low-income and rural veterans afford these critical services," the groups said. "Veterans often face difficult re-entry into civilian life and turn to support hotlines to get their questions answered and to connect with other veterans."

"Many Lifeline customers use their phones to access health services," the Korean War Veterans Association of the United States of America said, urging the FCC to "reject these punitive and unnecessary proposals."

Sage Telecom wants to hold off on changes to Lifeline minimum service standards and to keep the current level of support for voice services until the market report (see 1906280012). Sage said allowing the changes to take effect in December would "hinder the natural process of marketplace evolution" for voice services.