44 mayors, city leaders urge FCC to modernize Lifeline for broadband

Forty-four mayors and city officials sent aletter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) supporting the agency’s proposal to modernize the Lifeline program for broadband.

“Broadband Internet access has become essential infrastructure in the 21st Century,” the letter reads. “The proliferation of broadband has transformed commerce and social relations, but deployment has been uneven. Despite some meaningful progress, the digital divide persists.”

The elected leaders urged the FCC ensure the Lifeline program meets its goal of connecting low-income households with modern communications services. In modernizing the program to include broadband the FCC must reject co-payment schemes and program caps that would depress participation, and it must embrace customer choice by supporting fixed voice services and wireless voice services along with broadband services.

“For us as municipal leaders,” the letter concludes, “Lifeline modernization is a community issue, and a nonpartisan one as well. We are closest to civic problems and work across party lines every day to solve challenges. Putting broadband in reach for more low-income households will help us deliver better services community-wide, and foster opportunity for more of our residents.”

44 Mayors and City Leaders Support Modernizing Federal Lifeline Program to Include Broadband (Next Century Cities, Dec. 10, 2015)

CWA, AFL-CIO: Modernize Lifeline to include broadband (Speed Matters, Aug. 31, 2015)

CWA, AFL-CIO to FCC: Lifeline program must include broadband services (Speed Matters, Sept. 30, 2015)