T-Mobile is in the news today as it is said to be paying $200 million to put an end to an ongoing investigation being made by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The investigation involves Sprint’s misuse of funds from its Lifeline program.
Under the program, wireless carriers will be getting a subsidy of almost $10 for every low-income American they provide phone service to. Usually, this subsidy is large enough for carriers to provide basic service at no cost to customers, as long as they are eligible.
Unfortunately, the FCC discovered that over 1 million Sprint customers were under a subsidized plan. These customers should have had their service cut off for non-usage. But instead, the wireless provider continued to collect subsidies for service for “an extended period of time.” According to the FCC, customers who stop using subsidized phone and internet plans should be removed after 30 days if they aren’t otherwise paying for it. This is a more detailed explanation on the FCC’s rules about usage.
The FCC calls this as the “largest fixed-amount settlement” it obtained to solve an investigation. Ajit Pai, FCC chairman, shared that “it’s outrageous that a company would claim millions of taxpayer dollars for doing nothing.”
A spokesperson for T-Mobile spoke with The Verge and shared this statement:
“While we inherited this issue with our merger, we are glad that it is now resolved. We look forward to continuing to deliver reliable and affordable network connectivity to consumers across the country who depend on it.”
