FCC Releases Report on the State of the Lifeline Marketplace

In this report, the Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau provides a summary of the state of the Lifeline marketplace as directed by the 2016 Lifeline Order. This report informs the FCC about the current state of the Lifeline marketplace, identifies areas for future FCC consideration regarding the continued transition of the Lifeline program from a program that primarily supports Lifeline voice services to one with a greater focus on supporting Lifeline broadband Internet access service, and offers potential considerations relevant to the Lifeline Program’s continued ability to ensure that low-income Americans have access to affordable communications services. In developing the report, the Bureau relied on information about the Lifeline marketplace from the Lifeline administrator, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), publicly available information about general market trends, and comments submitted by various Lifeline stakeholders.

The Lifeline program remains a key component of the FCC’s efforts to address broadband availability and affordability across the country. Over the past several years, the FCC has taken important steps to transition the Lifeline program to a program that supports access to broadband Internet access services, allowing Lifeline eligible consumers to benefit from these services in a modern world. While progress has been made to advance affordability, this report offers several areas of consideration for the FCC.