FCC Announces Lifeline Minimum Service Standards and Indexed Budget

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) announced updated minimum service standards for Lifeline-supported services.  The 2016 Lifeline Order established minimum service standards for certain Lifeline-supported services and established annual increases in those standards. The minimum service standard for fixed broadband data usage allowance will continue until December 1, 2026.  Additionally, the Bureau announced that the budget for federal universal service support for the Lifeline program for calendar year 2026 will be $2,976,503,538. On July 1, 2025, the Bureau extended for an additional year the waiver pausing the increase in the Lifeline minimum service standards for mobile broadband data capacity. As such, the standard will continue to be 4.5 GB per month until December 1, 2026. Beginning December 1, 2025, the Lifeline minimum service standard for fixed broadband data usage will be 1280 GB per month. On December 1, 2025, the Lifeline minimum service standard for mobile voice service will remain unchanged, at 1000 minutes per month.