Pai Plans to Reverse FCC Lifeline Broadband Provider Process
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he would seek to undo the agency's process for designating Lifeline broadband providers (LBP). Pai said Wednesday he supported including broadband in the Lifeline low-income subsidy program but that the federal LBP process bypassed state authority to designate eligible telecom carriers (ETCs). He noted 12 states had mounted a legal challenge to the LBP process, in a case that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has put on hold while the FCC considers its course.
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"It would be a waste of judicial and administrative resources to defend the FCC’s unlawful action in court," he said in a statement. "I am therefore instructing the Office of General Counsel to ask the D.C. Circuit to send this case back to the Commission for further consideration. And the FCC will soon begin a proceeding to eliminate the new federal designation process."
In the meantime, the chair said the Wireline Bureau shouldn't address LBB applications on delegated authority. He said more than 3.5 million Americans already were receiving subsidized broadband service through the Lifeline program from 259 ETCs. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly's office declined comment. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn's office didn't immediately comment.