Right before the weekend, the newly appointed, telecom-friendly FCC Chairman Ajit Pai reversed course and told nine new companies that they would not be able to begin participating in the Lifeline program. The Lifeline program is a government subsidized program that tries to work to help close the “digital divide” in our country. Income inequality leads to less access for many children these days in the ever-evolving digital information space. About half of the United States’ children, living in households with incomes less than $30,000, have no access to high speed internet. Chairman Pai, feeling the fury over the numerous and well-circulated stories, has decided to release his bullshit excuse in a long-winded and completely tone-deaf and—Republican Party certified—misleading piece titled “Setting the Record Straight on the Digital Divide,” on Medium.
After saying how he’s “hit the ground running,” Pai explains he’s been to areas that don’t have good internets. Then he shows off the money he’s willing to spend building stuff.
We’ve already hit the ground running. In the first vote under my Chairmanship, I worked with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Senator Charles Schumer, Representative Chris Collins, and other officials to direct $170 million in federal funding to build out broadband in upstate New York to places that are currently unserved.
In the second week of my Chairmanship, I shared with my colleagues and set votes for February 23 on two detailed proposals for closing the digital divide. One of them would direct billions of dollars — with a “b” — over a decade toward making sure that all parts of this country have 4G LTE coverage. (Currently, there are too many gaps where your phone displays “No Service” — as I saw for myself during a recent drive from Wichita, Kansas to Des Moines, Iowa.) The other would allocate nearly $2 billion — again with a “b” — for advancing fixed broadband service across the country. With more connectivity, more Americans than ever before will have digital opportunity.
After billions in tax payer money, this map shows you what Verizon’s done
The important thing here to note is that these are all government subsidized infrastructure programs to try to incentivize big telecoms to do the thing that they should be doing in the first place. If you want to see how well these programs have worked over the years just take a look over at Verizon, a company that has received billions in subsidies and hasn’t done much of anything to bring global level high speed to Americans. But whatever, both Democrats and Republicans are guilty of giving these big corporations tax breaks and then not following up too closely on results. What else ya got, Chairman Pai?
Finally, I’ve engaged with Members of Congress about my proposal for Gigabit Opportunity Zones. Under this infrastructure plan, the government would use tax incentives to encourage the deployment of ultra-fast broadband in lower-income areas as small as an urban city block and as large as a rural county. It would also encourage entrepreneurs to take advantage of these next-generation networks by creating jobs in those areas. Gigabit Opportunity Zones would enable Americans to become participants in, rather than spectators of, the digital economy. They would be a powerful solution to the digital divide. I hope our elected officials will give the idea serious consideration.
That third thing is the same as the first two things. Everybody agrees that we should have better, faster, more thorough communication technology in our country. The “digital divide” is about bridging the unequal access to our communications and criminally retarding many people’s chances of achieving the American Dream. What else you got?
First, our action only impacted 9 of the over 900 providers participating in the Lifeline program. In other words, 99% of the companies participating in the program are not affected at all.
Pai is listing out all of the things that we all know. The problem with Pai “reversing course” on the Lifeline program was that it was an expansion of a program built to help bridge the digital divide that he is claiming he will be working to fix. As Ars Technica points out, these 9 new providers were specifically passed through on an extension of the program offering subsidized broadband access and not simply telephone access.
The nine providers who had their Lifeline designations revoked were the first to receive a designation made possible by the Lifeline program's expansion into broadband. They were approved under a new process that lets the FCC "approve new Lifeline Broadband Providers nationwide, instead of following the state-by-state process as used to be the case," an FCC spokesperson told us.
One of the nine ISPs had already started providing the subsidized service and was ordered to notify its customers that they can no longer receive Lifeline discounts. The FCC's order acknowledged that these poor people will pay an extra $9.25 a month if they can't find an alternate provider. The American Library Association and other consumer advocacy groups said the move could prevent some poor people from getting Internet service.
What’s up next Mr. Pai?
Fifth, many of these designations were approved in the last days of the last Administration (two days before Inauguration Day, over the objections of two of the four Commissioners, despite the fact that the FCC’s congressional oversight committees had requested that the Commission not take controversial actions during the transition between Administrations (consistent with the request from those same committees during the Republican-to-Democrat transition in 2008–09). Thus, a majority of Commissioners never supported approval of these designations.
This is coming from a man whose party has left the Supreme Court down a justice for almost one whole year now.
Sixth, every dollar that is spent on subsidizing somebody who doesn’t need the help by definition does not go to someone who does. That means that the Commission needs to make sure that there are strong safeguards against waste, fraud, and abuse before expanding the program to new providers.
Pai is playing the Republican fiscal conservative card—fiscally conservative for people who aren’t wealthy while acting like Mr. Monopoly money-bags with big corporations. When then FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler originally expanded the Lifeline program back in April, it was in a battle with people like Ajit Pai; and the main battle was Republicans wanting to cap the program at $2 billion while Wheeler and Democrats wanted to create a “soft cap” that could be moved if needed.
Pai goes on to show how he’s going to regulate these subsidies. Like welfare or food stamps, the only “regulations” Republicans like are ones directed at people in serious need. All you need to know about Ajit Pai is his transition squad has already sent letters to the big telecoms telling them that the FCC will not continue to pursue “inquiries” into their practices of anti-competitive hijinks that hurt consumers.