I
115th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1591
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 16, 2017
Mr. Welch introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To direct the Federal Communications Commission to adopt rules and conduct outreach to offer recipients of assistance under the Lifeline Assistance Program mobile devices that are capable of receiving a WiFi signal and are capable of tethering with other WiFi compatible hardware or devices, and for other purposes.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the WiFi Capable Mobile Devices Act of 2017
.
WiFi for Lifeline Assistance Program recipients
Rulemaking and outreach program
Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall—
issue rules to ensure that providers of mobile broadband Internet access service that is supported through the Lifeline Assistance Program offer to subscribers of such service, mobile devices that are capable of receiving a WiFi or other wireless broadband signal using unlicensed spectrum and are capable of tethering with other compatible hardware or devices; and
provide incentives to such providers to work with schools and libraries to conduct outreach to those eligible for assistance under such program.
Definitions
As used in this Act—
the term mobile broadband Internet access service
has the meaning given such term in section 8.2 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations;
the term tethering
used with respect to mobile devices means connecting such mobile devices to another device whereby one device connects to the Internet by sharing the mobile broadband Internet access service connection of the other device; and
the term WiFi
means wireless communications using the standard designated as 802.11 or any variant thereof.
