Overcoming Lifeline’s paternalism to empower low-income consumers

Over the past several years the Federal Communications Commission has brought sweeping changes to Lifeline, the telecommunications aid program for low-income households. These changes are designed to shift the program’s focus from telephone service to broadband service. Though few would question the need to narrow the digital divide, many (including me) have criticized the way the commission has chosen to do so. This blog post focuses on one oft-overlooked aspect of the Lifeline transition: the paternalism inherent in the decision to phase out voice-only service as an option for Lifeline recipients. The phase-out of voice-only service reflects the commission’s view that low-income households should look forward to broadband networks, rather than backward to telephone networks, to meet their telecommunications needs. While the agency is free to decide which platforms are worth subsidizing, this paternalism does a disservice to low-income consumers. 

[Lyons is an associate professor at Boston College Law School]