Verizon urges the US government to increase funding for a subsidy program to help low-income consumers purchase mobile services, saying that this will increase choice and help shrink the country the broadband coverage gap.
According to a recent report, Verizon urged Congress to replace the existing “Lifeline” plan, which provides consumers with an average of $9.25 per month, with new benefits ranging from $20 to $50 per month. It added that the revised plan should allow consumers to choose from a variety of tariffs instead of a designated package.
Verizon stated that existing policies are “not enough to address the lack of bandwidth access” and added that its proposal will “allow more Americans to flourish in the Internet age and help ensure that no one Abandoned by the digital revolution”.
Four months ago, Verizon signed an agreement to acquire Tracfone, a mobile virtual network operator, for US$6.25 billion, one of the largest service providers participating in the “Lifeline” program.
Others are also asking for higher “lifeline” subsidies in April 2020, 27 politicians called on Congress to allocate $1 billion in supplementary funding for the plan as part of the new crown rescue bill.
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In September 2020, AT&T’s executive vice president in charge of federal regulations, Joan Marsh, wrote in a blog that the current subsidy is “not enough to meet critical broadband demand”, but pointed out that the subsidy will be increased to 35 per month.
The U.S. dollar will increase the annual cost of the plan from approximately $981 million in 2019 to $8.1 billion to $12.1 billion.
