Can Lifeline close the digital divide?

[Commentary] The federal government has been offering subsidies to help the poor afford phone service since the court-ordered breakup of the Ma Bell system in the mid-1980s. Now the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission wants to give low-income Americans a new option by letting them use the Lifeline subsidy for high-speed Internet connections instead of a home phone line or a mobile phone account. The change is worth making.

But as the FCC admits, it's quixotic to think that merely providing a discount on broadband will close the digital divide. Less than half of the households with incomes less than $25,000 a year have broadband at home, and although affordability is a factor, consumer advocates and Internet service providers say that the cost of computers (or smartphones) and the lack of digital skills are at least as important. There's also the question of whether a broadband connection that can't necessarily make 911 calls amounts to a Lifeline service. The FCC is aware of these issues, having recently completed a series of pilot projects that offered discounted broadband to low-income consumers. And with new anti-fraud measures in place, it makes sense to allow the current Lifeline discount to be applied to broadband and see if it brings more low-income families online. If not, it will be time for Congress to find a better way than Lifeline to close the digital divide.