Today, the FCC blocked one of the nation’s largest recipients of federal subsidizes from enrolling any new customers. The provider received hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years from a federal fund that Americans pay into every month through an assessment on their phone bills. The program was designed to ensure that qualifying, low-income Americans can get discounted phone and Internet service. This action is based on concerning allegations that the provider may have been: 🔴 Transferring thousands of former subscribers back to the provider without their consent after they decided to switch providers 🔴 Creating a payment scheme to evade the FCC’s non-usage rules, which ensure that legitimate customers are actually using the federally subsidized service 🔴 Failing to obtain affirmative consent from subscribers before enrolling or transferring them 🔴 Changing corporate control without obtaining required federal approvals 🔴 Using bots to evade limits previously imposed on the provider The FCC is also taking actions to ensure that legitimate customers can get transferred to another Lifeline service provider.