FCC asking the wrong questions on Lifeline

In December 2020, in connection with a 2016 mandate to draft a report on the State of the Lifeline Marketplace, the Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau issued a data request asking wireless providers about customer usage and cost information. While the FCC’s newfound interest in data is commendable, the bureau is asking the wrong questions. Carrier cost data may help the FCC understand what it can get for $9.25/month. But it does not help us understand more fundamental questions such as which Americans are at risk of losing connectivity, why these families struggle, or whether $9.25 is enough to get them online. To determine answers to these questions, the commission must focus not on carriers providing Lifeline service, but the low-income population that the program is ostensibly supposed to help. Given its institutional strengths, it’s unsurprising that the FCC would rather talk to carriers than low-income consumers. But to make the right changes to improve Lifeline, the FCC will have to reach out to the impoverished as well — or transfer the program to a bureaucracy more familiar with the needs of low-income families. Lifeline is a noble cause with subpar execution. It’s time for it to live up to its mandate.