Groups Push Chairman Pai to Reverse Lifeline Move

Over 40 groups have written Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to ask him to reverse the decision to rescind Lifeline broadband subsidy eligibility for nine companies.

Among the Wheeler-era decisions the Pai FCC reversed were those designations, saying that the program needed to be better vetted for waste, fraud and abuse before it was expanded. The authorizations were not canceled but returned to pending status, though with the suggestion they might not pass muster. Only one of the nine had actually started providing service. In a letter to Pai and the other commissioners dated Feb. 23, the groups—which includes the NAACP, Free Press, the American Library Association, and The Benton Foundation—called on the FCC to "reject any further efforts to undermine Lifeline," implement the FCC's March 2016 Lifeline reforms, and restore that carrier designations.