The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Friday said it will expand the availability of its low-cost phone and Internet service program to those receiving federal assistance in connection with Hurricane Milton and future severe weather events.
The expansion comes in the form of a waiver that will see the FCC drop certain income-based requirements for Hurricane Milton victims who are receiving federal disaster relief assistance.
The waiver means those who receive federal assistance in connection with Hurricane Milton and similar future storms will be eligible to receive Lifeline benefits, which provides a nearly $10 per month discount on eligible broadband Internet service or a $5.25 discount on Lifeline-supported voice services. Discounts are also available for bundled offerings that pair wireless voice with broadband Internet.
Typically, Lifeline requires enrollment in certain federal assistance programs provided to eligible low-income households, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Access Program, or SNAP. In an order released on Friday, the FCC said “exigent circumstances” stemming from Hurricane Milton produced “good cause for further action to expeditiously ensure that households receive critical assistance for their communications needs in the aftermath of hurricanes and other tropical weather systems in the near term.”
To be eligible for Lifeline benefits through the waiver, households must be receiving disaster relief assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Individuals and Households Program (IHP), and that assistance must be directly related to Hurricane Milton or future storms that result in a Presidential disaster declaration. The waiver period is for six months, though the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau may extend it beyond that period “if there is evidence of a continuing need for FEMA IHP participants to be able to apply for the Lifeline benefit,” the FCC order said.
The FCC directed the Lifeline program administrator to put into place a system that allows FEMA aid recipients to also enroll in the discount phone and Internet program as part of their application. That system was launched relatively fast, with the Lifeline program administrator already accepting applications through a web portal at lifelinesupport.org, The Desk spotted on Friday.
Hurricane Milton evolved into a Category 5 storm in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this week before slamming into the western coast of Florida as a slightly-weaker Category 3 hurricane. Forecasters had warned of record storm surge from the metropolitan areas of Tampa to Fort Myers.
Hours before the eye of the hurricane reached Florida, the storm spawned dozens of tornadoes that carved a path of destruction up and down the state. Dozens of tornado warnings were issued on Wednesday, and confirmed tornadoes were spotted in the metropolitan areas of West Palm Beach, Fort Myers and Orlando, among other places.
The tornadoes and the hurricane have been blamed for at least 17 deaths across eight counties in Florida, Fox Weather reported on Friday. Many of those places were already dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which impacted the western portion of Florida nearly two weeks ago before moving north into Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee, triggering deadly and destructive flooding in those states.
