FCC needs to stop cuts to Lifeline broadband aids in tribal areas, states court

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Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai.


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An appeals court on Friday obstructed the Federal Communications Commission’s strategy to cut a broadband aid in tribal areas.

If the cut were carried out, “tribal populations will suffer widespread loss of vital telecommunications services” that are very important “for day-to-day medical, educational, family care, and other functions,” judges Sri Srinivasan, Patricia Millett and Cornelia Pillard of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit stated in a stay order.

The FCC voted last November to make cuts to the Tribal Lifeline aid program, which would have removed a $25- per-month aid from tribal homeowners in city locations, leaving them with just the fundamental $9.25 aid strategy, according to ArsTechnica The vote likewise supposedly restricted choices for rural tribal homeowners, disallowing them from utilizing the $25 aid to purchase telecom service from resellers.

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The court said the FCC failed to support its arguments that changes to the Tribal Lifeline program would eliminate unnecessary spending and encourage “development of communications infrastructure in underserved areas.” The stay order allows the $25 subsidy to remain in place for tribal residents in both rural and urban areas.

The Lifeline subsidy program has been around for 32 years and helped subsidize broadband service — originally phone connections and now internet as well — for the poor. The program allows low-income individuals to choose to use a $9.25-per-month subsidy to pay for either phone or broadband service.

To encourage provider participation in the program, the FCC in 2016 began approving companies rather than requiring them to get approvals from each state in which they offered the subsidies. However, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai last year said that the FCC overreached its authority because states or federal government shouldn’t decide which company can join the program.

Although the court has issued the stay order for changes to the Lifeline program in tribal regions, the lawsuit will still need to go through a legal process in order to determine a final outcome.

The FCC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did the National Lifeline Association, the Oceti Sakowin Tribal Utility Authority or the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, which are among the groups suing the FCC.Â