GOP Lawmakers Urge FCC Not to Advance Lifeline MSS Order

A trio of Hill Republicans is urging the FCC not to move forward with a July draft order that would raise the Lifeline wireless broadband minimum service standard to 4.5 GB per month (see 2007300064). The proposal has drawn opposition (see 2009150072). “The formula the FCC adopted to update the [MSS] for Lifeline mobile broadband data capacity” in 2016 (see 1603310056) was flawed, “resulting in drastic, year-over-year increases that would undoubtedly impact the ability of Lifeline carriers to continue providing affordable service,” said Sen. David Perdue of Georgia in a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The FCC in 2019 “rightfully stepped in to avoid this outcome, limiting the increase from 2 GB to 3 GB per month, instead of an unsustainable 8.75 GB per month.” Perdue’s “concerned that another increase will serve only to cause Lifeline carriers to drastically raise prices, thereby forcing subscribers to drop out of the program in order to avoid costly co-pays.” He encouraged the FCC to “pause” any further increase until it has “completed and reviewed” a planned 2021 Lifeline market report and can “strike a more feasible balance between affordability and robustness.” Reps. Mark Green of Tennessee and Jody Hice of Georgia also sought a pause, urging the FCC to temporarily increase the monthly Lifeline benefit to at least $18 from the current $9.25 amid the pandemic. “We are concerned that although Americans need more mobile broadband data, it seems contrary to free market principles that a government agency would mandate that a private company must provide a costly service without compensation,” the GOP lawmakers wrote Pai. “It is a classic unfunded mandate” that appears the FCC is taking “without statutory authority.” The agency didn’t immediately comment Tuesday.