Groups Challenge FCC's Bureau-Level Order Suspending Prison Phone Rate Cap

A coalition of public interest groups filed a formal challenge to a recent bureau-level decision at the Federal Communications Commission to delay rate caps that would make prison phone calls more affordable. Public interest groups including Worth Rises, the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry, and the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, filed an application for review urging the FCC to overturn the June 30 decision from the Wireline Competition Bureau that delayed enforcement of congressionally mandated rate caps. Advocates said the Bureau’s order violated federal law by delaying implementation of rate caps until 2027, despite the Martha Wright-Reed Act, enacted in 2023, directing the FCC to finalize the rules by December 2024.