Public Interest Groups Slam AT&T’s Refusal to Serve Low-Income Americans Through Lifeline Program

Five diverse public interest groups spoke out about AT&T’s recent decision to opt out of the Lifeline broadband program and urged them to reconsider participating to offer the modest discount that Lifeline provides to low-income families struggling to afford broadband. Despite supporting the inclusion of broadband within the modernized Lifeline program, AT&T has officially filed for forbearance from the Lifeline broadband Internet access service requirements. This decision would confine their extension of Lifeline broadband to only very limited regions of its service territory.

“Benton is extremely disappointed with AT&T’s decision and the impact it will have on home broadband adoption for the most vulnerable families in the US,” said Amina Fazlullah, Director of Policy at Benton Foundation: “Teamed with FCC Lifeline program subsidies, AT&T could have been a leader in providing affordable broadband service for qualified, low-income families. We could have seen an incredible rise in broadband adoption by addressing the number one barrier to subscriptions: cost. This is an unfortunate failure to take advantage of a meaningful public-private partnership. We hope AT&T will reconsider its decision.”