The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) voted against ma...
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) voted against making Verizon let Lifeline customers buy telecom service bundles, citing procedural grounds. State Consumer Advocate Irwin Popowsky sought to amend a pending Verizon request for release from a requirement that it…
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offer customers its least costly basic service option before trying to sell them a pricier option. Popowski said the telecom marketplace has swung strongly toward bundled services to save consumers money, a option Lifeline households should have. Verizon opposed the amendment, saying providing service bundles to Lifeline customers will further strain the universal service fund and contravene state legislature intent that Lifeline be a very basic service. Popowski said Pennsylvania consistently gets less than its fair share of universal service subsidies, and that Lifeline bundling wouldn’t cause Verizon any loss. The PUC voted 3-1 against amending the Verizon petition. The majority said Lifeline bundling has but a tenuous tie to the marketing restriction case and is a complex issue demanding separate litigation. Vice Chairman James Cawley, who cast the dissenting vote, said the majority’s decision for a separate Lifeline bundling case badly served low-income customers and said it would be a “waste of resources” to force Popowski to start over again with a new case.