Red Tape, Foot-dragging Stops Benefits of Federal Program for Universal Telecommunications Access From Reaching Those Needing It Most in Philly Area; Only Chester and Montgomery Counties Are On Board So Far.
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Even as low-income residents of such major metropolitan areas as Boston, Atlanta, and Miami are enjoying the benefits of a federal program designed to ensure that telephone service is available and affordable for eligible low income households, half a dozen city and county bureaucrats are blocking the distribution of free cell phones and related minutes to an estimated 443,569 of the poorest residents of the greater Philadelphia area, including 221,870 in the city of Philadelphia itself.
Miami-based TracFone Wireless, Inc., America's leading prepaid cell phone provider, went public today with its concerns about the months of unreasonable and unjustified legal and procedural roadblocks that have been erected in response to the launch of SafeLink Wireless(R) in Philadelphia. SafeLink Wireless is the TracFone service delivered under the federal Lifeline program designed to ensure universal access to telecommunications services for qualifying low-income consumers. Hundreds of thousands of consumers in other states have already benefited from SafeLink since its inception in the fall of 2008.
City and county officials in Philadelphia, Berks County, Bucks County, Lehigh County, and North Hampton County have so far refused to certify the TracFone Wireless program. To date, Chester County and Montgomery County are alone in certifying the program in the greater Philadelphia area. Delaware County is currently in the process of testing phones for certification purposes. TracFone's SafeLink Wireless already is certified and in place in Florida, Tennessee, Virginia, Massachusetts and the greater Atlanta area.
