Washington, D.C. — The Federal Communications Commission has rejected a petition from several Lifeline providers seeking to extend a pandemic-era waiver in a way that would have allowed them to claim millions of dollars in additional federal subsidies for services that customers were not using.
The order, adopted by the full Commission, denies requests by Assist Wireless, Boomerang Wireless, Easy Wireless and i-wireless to reinterpret the end date of the FCC’s COVID-19 non-usage waiver. The companies argued that extending the waiver by a single day—through May 1, 2021—would qualify them for an entire additional month of Lifeline support, despite subscribers’ continued non-use of service.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the decision protects both the integrity of the Lifeline program and the public funds that support it.
“The American public pays for the federal subsidies that support the agency’s Lifeline program,” Carr said. “Therefore, the FCC has a responsibility to be good stewards of those funds. One way we police waste, fraud, and abuse is through enforcement of the FCC’s non-usage rule, which prohibits Lifeline providers from obtaining federal subsidies for services that subscribers are not using.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commission temporarily waived the non-usage rule to ensure subscribers did not lose connectivity. That waiver concluded on April 30, 2021. Petitioners argued it should effectively be treated as lasting one additional day, triggering another full month of compensation.
Carr said the record showed no basis for extending the expired waiver window. “While the Commission offered flexibility during the pendency of the COVID-19 pandemic, that does not mean we should allow providers to game the system for extra reimbursement, at the American public’s expense, after the need for this leniency had clearly—and officially—ended,” he said. “I thank the FCC staff for their diligence throughout this process to ensure no money is wasted.”
The order affirms a prior decision by the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau, which determined that the COVID-19 relief period ended April 30, 2021 and that the companies were not eligible for an additional month of support for unused services.
The Lifeline program offers subsidized voice and broadband services to qualifying low-income consumers, but providers may only claim support if subscribers actually use the service. The Commission’s action keeps that guardrail intact, concluding that the pandemic-era flexibility was never intended to extend beyond its formally defined end date.
About the Author
