Clyburn Defends Lifeline Program, Supports IP Interconnection for Voice Service
FCC commissioner Mignon Clyburn offered an impassioned defense of the Lifeline program, responding to critics who've attacked what they've called an “Obama Phone” program that sends multiple free cellphones to the poor regardless of whether they meet the qualifications. “Allow me to set the record straight,” Clyburn said, according to prepared remarks delivered at a Consumer Federation of America event Friday. “Without this program, 15 million low income families would literally be choosing between feeding their children or going without a dial tone that potentially could save their lives.” Clyburn also expressed support for Internet Protocol interconnection requirements for the exchange of voice traffic as the industry transitions to all-IP networks.
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The average Lifeline customer is a middle-aged grandmother, raising her grandchildren on only $12,000 per year, Clyburn said, citing figures shared with her by a major provider. The program predates the Obama administration, she said, with basic phone service for low-income consumers a priority since the Reagan administration. Clyburn credited Lifeline with narrowing a 15 percent gap in phone service between low income and non-low-income households in 1980, to 4 percent in 2011. Subsidized cellphones have been offered since the Bush administration, Clyburn said.
Lifeline reforms requiring annual eligibility recertification have eliminated tens of thousands of consumers from the program, but this wasn’t necessarily a reflection of previous fraud, Clyburn said. Non-responses can occur because some people might not realize they have to recertify every year, especially if the bill inserts are “not in their native language, or they are functionally illiterate,” Clyburn said. The national Lifeline database under development will assist with knowing when a customer is qualified to receive service, she said.
"Commissioner Clyburn is right that the national database will also curtail much of the abuse,” former FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate told us. “However, disqualified does not necessarily mean unqualified; as she mentioned, this population may be illiterate, homeless, move frequently or even fearful of responding. That is why education about these reforms and their potential consequences are important.” Tate pointed out that Lifeline is currently only being used by about half of all those who could qualify.
"It was the right course of action to permit low-income consumers to have a wireless Lifeline option,” Clyburn said. “Unfortunately, the program was not prepared for the impact that new competition from wireless which has resulted in consumers receiving multiple benefits, but that is one of the major issues we have addressed and are correcting through our reforms.” Rules only permit one phone benefit per family, which must choose between wireline or mobile service, she said. “Hardly an extravagance.” Two-thirds of Lifeline customers have chosen the mobile option, she said, arguing it would be “counterproductive” for the FCC to “abandon its technology neutral position by permitting a landline-only option."
"It’s as important as ever to ensure that everyone in our country has access to affordable communication services,” said Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood in a statement. “Commissioner Clyburn’s defense of Lifeline is a welcome reminder of this core universal service principle. As the Commission continues to reform and modernize the fund, it must retain its focus on efficiently connecting all eligible individuals and families -- not propping up certain business models or legacy providers."
Clyburn also expressed support for continued interconnection between carriers, regardless of whether the signal travels over the public switched telephone network or via IP. “Fundamentally, the Commission expects that all carriers negotiate requests for interconnection and exchange of voice traffic over the new Internet Protocol systems,” she said. “This will ensure that no consumer, regardless of what voice service system they use, is unable to communicate with those on other systems.” Clyburn clarified that “no one should mistake IP interconnection for voice services with regulation of the Internet,” given that providers using IP to deliver voice service over their proprietary networks “are not using the Internet to do so.”