AT&T fined for gouging Uncle Sam on phone plans for poor folk

AT&T has been fined $10.9m by US regulator the FCC for overcharging the government on phone plans for poor people. The watchdog said the telco over-billed the US government between 2012 and 2013 while providing the Lifeline service to hard-up citizens. Lifeline works like this: the cell networks offer discounted or free phone …

[Mark 85]

FTFY, Travis

"American consumers taxpayers trust that the companies who receive federal funds will use that money appropriately for the benefit of increasing shareholder value," said FCC enforcement bureau chief Travis LeBlanc."

[Anonymous Coward]

Right...

But the FCC does absolutely nothing to prevent the public from being defrauded by the Telcos and cable companies. Maybe the chair persons at the FTC and FCC should all be replaced and their platinum parachutes rescinded?

[Sporkinum]

Subsidized

I don't know what they charge, or how many minutes they get, but I only pay $10 a month for my prepaid service that's 400 minutes, texts, and 300mb of data a month. Additional texts, minutes, mb are 2 cents each. I did have to buy the phone on ebay though.

[BornToWin]

Re: Subsidized

The Feds are good at paying excess fees for everything. It's a (legal) means to repay PAC money contributors. What would you expect from a government that is determine by who spends the most money on bribes?