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Law360 (August 10, 2020, 5:40 PM EDT) -- An array of organizations advocating for civil, anti-poverty, consumer, labor and technology rights sent a letter Monday to the Federal Communications Commission urging the agency to further assist low-income consumers with staying connected as the coronavirus pandemic lingers.
The National Consumer Law Center, the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, and the NAACP — among others — told FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and the agency's commissioners that they could assist low-income consumers by extending COVID-19-related waivers for a phone and internet subsidy program through the end of the year.
"The public health and economic devastation from the COVID-19 pandemic continues to devastate low-income households and communities, particularly communities of color," the letter read. "We are in the throes of an economic and public health crisis in which access to affordable and free communications services is essential to save lives and revitalize our economy."
Specifically, the groups pushed the FCC to extend waivers that made it easier for consumers in rural tribal lands to gain access to the Lifeline low-income subsidy program, which typically disburses about $10 a month to households for phone and internet expenses.
In the beginning of June, the FCC ordered the temporary easing of Lifeline's program application and enrollment process and allowed providers to immediately grant services to tribal consumers before they submitted necessary documentation. The waiver, however, expires at the end of the month.
The letter claimed the waiver has been "critical to helping to protect access to voice and data for vulnerable low-income households," and it should be extended through the end of December while the COVID-19 pandemic still rages on in the U.S.
"Workers of color and low-wage workers are experiencing disproportionately higher rates of income loss and unemployment due to the pandemic," the letter read. "Stay-at-home orders, currently in place or being reimposed across the country, caused and will cause many schools and businesses to remain virtual for the foreseeable future, making the need for internet access even more essential."
The organizations also called for the FCC to stop chipping away at the Lifeline voice service subsidy. The support has decreased from $9.25 per month to $7.25 per month and is set to decrease Dec. 1 to $5.25 per month, according to the letter. The groups demanded that the FCC fully restore the subsidy to $9.25, and consider increasing the benefit to keep up with inflation and the data needs of consumers.
In addition, the letter pushed for the agency to freeze its changes to the Lifeline minimum service standards for mobile broadband, which would raise the minimum amount of mobile data that needed to be used in order for a consumer to be eligible for the Lifeline subsidy.
According to the groups, the heightening of the standard without increasing the Lifeline subsidy would make consumers pay more. The letter said such a move would "jeopardize the availability of no-cost Lifeline service products which are particularly urgent during the pandemic[.]" The organizations said the FCC should not raise the minimum standard higher than the current level of 3 GB, and it should stay at that level until next year.
The FCC did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
The push to extend COVID-19-related relief comes as some states in the U.S. have experienced a surge in coronavirus cases while lockdown orders have been lifted and quarantine precautions have loosened.
The FCC's waivers were supposed to aid consumers in getting phone and internet access during this precarious period, but Pai told Congress in May that the commission had received more than 2,000 COVID-19-related complaints and it has heard frustrations over "billing or network issues, or broadband access generally."
--Additional reporting by Anne Cullen and Kelcee Griffis. Editing by Kelly Duncan.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
