FCC Keeps Lifeline Voice and Data Benefits Steady Through 2026
Bureau keeps voice-only subsidies alive for one more year
WASHINGTON, July 7, 2025 – The Wireline Competition Bureau extended a waiver Tuesday pausing the phase-out of Lifeline support for voice-only services and an increase in the Lifeline minimum service standard for mobile broadband data capacity.
The extension, which will last for a year, will keep the minimum service standard for mobile broadband data capacity at 4.5 GB per month, rather than allowing it to rise to 29 GB per month beginning in December. It will also keep support for services that meet only the voice minimum service standard at $5.25 a month, rather than eliminating it in most areas on December 1, 2025.
The WCB, headed by Chief Joseph Calascione, explained the reasoning for its decision, noting that “absent this action, the minimum service standard for mobile broadband data capacity would have experienced its largest increase since Lifeline minimum service standards were established.”
FROM SPEEDING BEAD SUMMIT
Panel 1: How Are States Thinking About Reasonable Costs Now?
Panel 2: Finding the State Versus Federal Balance in BEAD
Panel 3: Reacting to the New BEAD NOFO Guidance
Panel 4: Building, Maintaining and Adopting Digital Workforce Skills
The WCB also said that the waiver “will avoid changes that could potentially result in the disruption of communications for Lifeline subscribers as the Commission establishes and evaluates the record in the Delete, Delta, Delete proceeding.”
The Lifeline program has provided a discount on phone service for qualifying low-income consumers since 1985. Funded by the Universal Service Fund and administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company, the program provides a $9.25 monthly subsidy for broadband services and a $5.25 monthly subsidy for voice support.
The FCC has sought to phase down Lifeline support for voice-only services since 2016. That phaseout was scheduled to occur in December 2021, but has been delayed by one-year waivers ever since. The $2.9 billion program has served as a substitute, albeit one with a lower payout, for many low-income households after the Affordable Connectivity Program phased out in 2024.
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