Unanimous FCC Rejects COVID-19 Waiver Appeal
The FCC on Wednesday rejected a request by Assist Wireless, Boomerang Wireless, Easy Wireless and i-wireless asking the agency to grant the companies' applications for review on upward revisions for reimbursement of services provided in the last month of the Lifeline COVID-19 waiver period (see 2504030027). In June, Chairman Brendan Carr circulated an order denying the carriers’ requests (see 2506270060). The order was approved 3-0 by commissioners.
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, the FCC “provided a limited waiver” of its non-usage rule, Carr said Wednesday. “But the petitioners here have tried to extend that waiver -- and thus obtain millions of dollars in federal subsidies -- after the relevant time period ended.” The agency won’t allow carriers “to game the system for extra reimbursement, at the American public’s expense, after the need for this leniency had clearly -- and officially -- ended.”
Contrary to assertions made in a June news release on the order, “the Companies have not sought to extend the final non-usage waiver,” said a July filing by the companies in docket 11-42. “Nor have they sought to game the system or to cost the American public millions of dollars in unjustified expenditures.”
The providers asked commissioners to vote on the order so that their "years-long appeal process can either come to a successful conclusion or produce a final decision that can be appealed to federal court.”