A leading congressional committee opened a probe of AT&T, Charter, Dish Network, T-Mobile and Verizon on Wednesday, aiming to explore if these and other telecom giants are “abiding by the law” in administering a federal aid program that helps low-income families stay online.
The inquiry — commenced by Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), the chairman of the tech-focused House Energy and Commerce Committee — comes in the wake of a Washington Post investigation that found internet providers had unleashed price hikes, speed cuts and fraud risks in connection with the pandemic-era initiative.
The heightened scrutiny centers on the roughly $17 billion adopted by Congress since 2020 to help cash-strapped families and close the country’s digital divide. First called the Emergency Broadband Benefit, then rebranded last year as the Affordable Connectivity Program, the initiative pays stipends directly to telecom providers to lower qualified Americans’ monthly bills, sometimes to zero.
Recent Comments