Ajit Pai loses in court – judges cancel removal of broadband tribal program

A federal court of appeal overturned Ajit Pai's attempt to remove broadband subsidies from tribal residents.

In November 2017, the Federal Communications Commission, led by Pai, voted by 3 votes to 3, which made it much more difficult for tribal residents to obtain a $ 25 per month Lifeline grant to reduce the cost. Internet or telephone services.

The amendment did not take effect because in August 2018, the US District Circuit of the District of Columbia suspended the FCC decision pending the appeal. The same court last Friday followed a decision that overturned the FCC ruling and referred the case back to the Commission for a new rule-making procedure.

"[S]Since 2000, low-income consumers living on tribal lands can receive an additional $ 25 per month for these services through the Tribal Lifeline program, in recognition of additional barriers to affordable telecommunications service on tribal lands. " specified the decision of the court.

The decision made in 2017 by the FCC Pai would have limited the $ 25 grant to "facility-based" operators – those who build their own networks – preventing Tribal residents from using the $ 25 grant for purchase a telecommunication service from resellers. This decision would have severely limited the options for tribal residents to acquire a subsidized service, but the FCC argued that this was necessary to encourage operators to build their own networks.

The same FCC decision also reportedly removed the US $ 25 subsidy in urban areas, reserving it only for tribal lands in rural areas. The court's decision Friday, in response to an appeal by tribal organizations and small wireless telecommunications companies, overturned both of these limitations.

A panel of three judges stated that the FCC had not considered the fact that facility-based suppliers had left the Lifeline program and had provided no evidence that the reseller's ban would lead to a new deployment of broadband. The judges also decided that the FCC had not given sufficient thought to how the elimination of the subsidy in urban areas would affect consumers.

The judges wrote:

For the following reasons, we accept petitions for revision. The adoption of these two limitations by the Commission was arbitrary and capricious in failing to provide a reasoned explanation for its policy change, supported by documentary evidence. By adopting the Tribal Facilities Requirement, the Board's decision in no way takes into account the exodus of suppliers with Tribal Lifeline facilities. Nor does this prove that the ban on resellers of the Tribal Lifeline program would favor the creation of a network. It also does not badyze the impact of the facility requirement on tribal residents who currently depend on wireless resellers. In addition, the Board did not consider that its decision constitutes a fundamental change that affects access and affordability for tribal land residents. Similarly, in adopting the rural tribal limitation, the Commission's decision shows no consideration of the impact on access and affordability of services. His decision does not review the wireless deployment data for the services to which most Tribal Lifeline recipients subscribe.

In addition, the FCC "has not provided adequate opportunity to comment on the proposed limitations," the judges wrote.

Lifeline is paid by Americans through charges imposed on phone bills.

A senator condemns Pai and salutes the decision of a court

The court's decision was made public on the same day as the pleadings in the case regarding the FCC's revocation of FCC neutrality.

We contacted the FCC today and will update this story if we get an answer. The FCC may appeal the decision.

"This is another example of the fact that President Pai has defended his own agenda on his obligations to the American public – we have seen it with Net Neutrality and we see it with Lifeline," he said. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) in a statement Friday. "It comes with its decision taken, ignoring the process it is supposed to follow to review the rules and programs.This is not the intention of Congress, and the court is right to overthrow the False and unsubstantiated order of the FCC. "

According to a report released in September 2018 by the US Government Accountability Office, broadband access in the tribal areas is worse than the entire United States and probably even worse than previously thought, because FCC data overestimates deployment.

Regardless of his Lifeline Tribal Plan, Pai proposed to separate Lifeline resellers nationally, not just in tribal areas. This would severely limit the choice of the poor, since over 70% of wireless phone users who rely on Lifeline subsidies purchase their plans from resellers.

But even Pai's usual supporters have criticized the proposal and Friday's court decision could make it harder for Pai to completely fire Lifeline's dealers.