Proposal targets ‘digital divide’
NEW YORK — The head of the Federal Communications Commission is proposing that the agency expand a phone subsidy program for the poor to include Internet access.
The FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, has emphasized that Internet access is a critical component of modern life, key education, communication, and finding and keeping a job.
With the net neutrality rules released earlier this year, the agency redefined broadband as a public utility, like the telephone, giving it stricter oversight on how online content gets to consumers. That triggered lawsuits from Internet service providers.
The proposal to expand the Lifeline phone program to Internet service aims to narrow the “digital divide” — those with access to the Internet and other modern technologies and those without.
According to a Pew Research Center report from 2013, 70 percent of U.S. adults have high-speed Internet connections at home. Only 54 percent of households earnings less than $30,000 a year do. The FCC says low-income Americans are more likely to rely on smartphones for access. According to the Pew report, 67 percent of households that make less than $30,000 have home broadband or smartphones.
Lifeline was started in 1985 and expanded to include wireless phones in 2005. The FCC calls for extending Lifeline’s $9.25 monthly credit to give low-income households a choice of phone service or Internet access.