FCC gives massive fine to Obama phone company

Is there any real surprise with this story? Fraud and a Obama phone. Is there any government program that isn’t riddled by fraud. I could have told you that when I heard that companies were swinging by senior centers and handing them out without any documentation of income level. Better yet, the Senior center was complicit by stating if their “mandated” requirement wasn’t spent, they would lose money for the next year. The FCC just recently voted by a 3-2 party-line majority to include subsidies for broadband Internet services in Lifeline. Anyone want to bet how this will go?

Detailing a litany of blatant, widespread and systematic abuses, the FCC late yesterday announced its intention to fine wireless provider Total Call Mobile some $51 million for allegedly creating tens of thousands of phony Lifeline accounts that defrauded the Universal Service Fund of almost $10 million.

The fine would be the largest ever levied against a Lifeline provider, according to the FCC.

Derided as “Obama phones,” the program has been controversial and plagued by fraud.

H/T: Network World

Filed under: Government Tagged: Abuse, FCC, fraud, Minorities