FCC Fine-Tunes Plan to Subsidize Internet Access
People who do not have regular access to the Internet can fall behind in school, at work and in other everyday tasks. The Federal Communications Commission is close to what it hopes will be a solution to address that gap: $9.25 a month.
The agency will circulate a final proposal to FCC commissioners to approve a broadband subsidy of $9.25 a month for low-income households, in the government’s boldest effort to date to narrow a technological divide that has emerged between those who have web access and those who do not. While more than 95 percent of households with incomes over $150,000 have high-speed Internet at home, just 48 percent of those making less than $25,000 can afford the service, the FCC’s chairman, Tom Wheeler, has said. The new plan is part of an overhaul of a $2 billion phone subsidy program called Lifeline and will go to vote on March 31. It is expected to be approved by the FCC’s commissioners, who have a Democratic majority.
FCC Fine-Tunes Plan to Subsidize Internet Access