Kansas City Business Journal

Sprint and another Windstream filed a lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission for the agency's recent decision on business data services.

The companies are seeking relief "on the grounds that the [FCC’s] Report and Order is arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion," according to a filing in the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. Richard Levy, a law professor at the University of Kansas, said the court would not determine whether the FCC adopted the correct policy, but whether it is consistent with statute. "Those kinds of filings go the agency's way, more often than not," he said. "Occasionally, they will be able to demonstrate some sort of flaw in what the agency did." As the petitioners, Sprint and Windstream requested that the court reverse, annul or set aside the FCC's Report and Order, and provide additional relief as determined proper. If a flaw is found, Levy said, the agency still may be able to readopt the policy with a better explanation to support it or to revise the policy. Usually, the court will not completely reverse it. In Sprint's case, he added, "The best case is to have it reversed. Sometimes it's worth it even if the only impact is to delay a regulation for a couple of years."

AT&T is all but pulling out of programs that subsidize phone service for low-income customers in Kansas and Missouri. The telecommunication company notified regulators that it will pull out of the Kansas Lifeline Service Program in most parts of the state. AT&T will end its participation in urban areas, but will continue to offer Lifeline discounts in some rural areas. While participation in the program has increased to 62,000, AT&T serves fewer than 3,000. AT&T previously notified Missouri officials that it will end its participation in voluntary Lifeline and Disabled programs in the state as of July 5. The company said it now serves only about 4.2 percent of Missouri’s 156,000 Lifeline customers.

Kansas City students will be among the first to participate in the Sprint Foundation's 1Million Project, helping close the "homework gap" for low-income students. Sprint Corp announced the first 11 cities to participate in its pilot program Dec 12, as part of a five-year goal to provide free devices and Internet connectivity to 1,000,000 US high school students.

The pilot will launch in January, providing free devices and high-speed wireless to about 4,000 students across 11 locations, including 500 students in Kansas City Public Schools. After the pilot program ends, schools will be able to apply for the program for its nationwide rollout in the 2017-2018 school year. Participating students will receive a free smartphone, tablet or hotspot device with three gigabytes of high-speed LTE data per month and unlimited texting. Students will be able to keep the devices for up to four years, until they graduate.