FCC Rejects Wireless Providers Bid for Extra Lifeline Payments

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2025 – A four year long dispute over a single day of eligibility under a pandemic-era benefits waiver at the Federal Communications Commission came to an end Wednesday.

The FCC rejected an appeal from four wireless providers who had sought an additional month of federal reimbursement under Lifeline for subscribers who were in their “non-usage cure” period. The grace period required under Lifeline rules gives inactive customers 15 days to show some use before being de-enrolled for non-use.

FCC commissioners voted to affirm an earlier bureau decision finding that the Lifeline usage waiver adopted during the pandemic expired on April 30, 2021. Assist Wireless, Boomerang Wireless, Easy Wireless, and i-wireless had argued that the waiver extended through May 1, 2021, a reading that would have triggered a full additional month of federal support.