What Will the FCC Do Next with Lifeline?

What constitutes a lifeline in 2021? Is it a phone? A smartphone? A fixed-location broadband connection? Or some combination of all these services? Last week, the Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau launched a proceeding seeking public input on a report on the state of the FCC's Lifeline program. The report will have a huge impact on what services are available to Lifeline's low-income participants. In 2016, the FCC directed the Wireline Competition Bureau, by June 30, 2021, to review the Lifeline program and submit a report to the full FCC recommending whether action should be taken to revise its approach to supported services. Beginning December 1, 2021, there will no longer be support for voice-only service, or voice service bundled with a broadband offering that does not meet the applicable minimum service standard for broadband internet access service—or, at least, not unless the FCC acts upon recommendations to do otherwise presented in what it called for in the 2016 decision—the State of the Lifeline Marketplace Report.