Chairman Carr Acts to Save the American Public Millions of Dollars

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr circulated an order that would save the American public millions of dollars by rejecting a request to expand a COVID-era waiver. Specifically, the circulated order denies a request by Lifeline providers to extend the FCC’s waiver of the program’s non-usage rules. In their requests, petitioners wanted the FCC to interpret the COVID-era waiver as extending one additional day because doing so would allow them to receive federal subsidies for an entire additional month, notwithstanding the continued non-usage of the service. Assist Wireless, Boomerang Wireless, Easy Wireless and i-wireless formally challenged a decision by the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau rejecting the petitioners’ interpretation of the end date of the COVID-19 relief waiver period for non-usage, which would allow them to make upward revisions of reimbursements. Chairman Carr's proposal would, if adopted by a vote of the full Commission, affirm the Bureau’s decision that the COVID-19 relief waiver period for nonusage ended on April 30, 2021, and that the petitioners are not entitled to an extra month of support for unused services.