Introducing Lifeline: the Government Phone Program

A government phone program involving millions of American citizens has been introduced in which the government intends to provide free cellular phones to the qualified people of America. This qualification is based on some criteria set by the government. The phones distributed under this program known as the Lifeline program are a creation of the mobile company Tracfone. Along with the free mobile phone, people looking for low cost cell phone plans will be happy to know they also get a privileged connection of 250 minutes for free.

This is funded by the Universal Service Fund which had the vision to encourage quality service provision by the concerned telecom companies at affordable and user friendly rates. To ensure that each of these companies contribute into this fund, this government phone program demands an additional fee to be included in the phone bills of its users. The inception of this program took place after the passing of Telecommunications Act 1996 and the creators were the FCC.

The eligible people are the ones who have a low income defined by pre-decided measuring criteria. The program not only gives hefty discounts on the phone bills but sometimes offer full rebate on the bill. The qualification is accepted if a person satisfies the earning criteria of earnings of 135 % of poverty guidelines of the federal government. The cost of the phones is covered up easily due to a single time provision of a 30$ relief for the installation procedure.

This government phone program is growing at a brisk pace and is proving a beneficial program for the people of America. The survey reports of numerous magazines and papers suggest that this program is here to stay. The Lifeline program has been able to aid up to billions of dollars and has helped revive the look of the telecom industry in the United States of America.