Why Helping the Poor Pay for Broadband Is Good for Us All – FCC Aims to Overhaul Phone Subsidy Program to Cover Broadband

The proposal shows that federal regulators are finally beginning to acknowledge what many of us already know–the Internet is a crucial gateway to economic opportunity.

The head of the Federal Communications Commission says he wants to make it a little easier for all Americans to get online. Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the FCC, shared a proposal last week urging the commission to update its Lifeline program, which currently provides a subsidy to qualified low-income households to help them pay their landline or mobile phone bills. The suggested updates would allow those households to use the same subsidy to help cover the cost of broadband–meaning more families could afford Internet at home.

The catch? The subsidy is just $9.25 per month.

Julia Greenberg

Full Story: http://www.wired.com/2015/05/helping-poor-pay-broadband-good-us/

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FCC Aims to Overhaul Phone Subsidy Program to Cover Broadband

About 12 million households participated last year in the Lifeline program, which began 30 years ago to ensure that all Americans had access to basic telecommunications services.

by Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times

Full Story: http://www.govtech.com/federal/FCC-Aims-to-Overhaul-Phone-Subsidy-Program-to-Cover-Broadband.html