Dialing Up Help for Out-of-Work & Low-Income Americans:
$4 Billion In Additional Income Seen From Wider Availability Of Subsidized Cell Phones
Study Shows Non-Participating States Costing Jobless &
Poorest Residents Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in Lost Income
May 19th, 2011- Efforts to put free cell phones into the hands of poor and near-poor Americans eligible for the Federal Communications Commission’s Lifeline Assistance program have the potential to deliver nearly $4 billion annually to the eligible Americans who need it most in the current recession, according to a 2011 study by the New Millennium Research Council (NMRC).
Wireless Lifeline support for prepaid wireless is now available to low-income Americans in 35 states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. But non-participating states – which include California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming – are missing out on a total of about $650 million in potential income for their poorest residents, according to the study.
Nicholas P. Sullivan, the author of the recent report, talks about:
- How making federally subsidized cell phones can reduce costs for state governments struggling with deficits.
- The key role that cell phones can play in helping low-income Americans find … and keep … jobs during the recession.
- How cell phones generate income for Americans and improve their earnings and quality of life
About the talent:
Nicholas Sullivan is a Fellow at the Center for Emerging Market Enterprises at The Fletcher School, co-chair of The Fletcher School Leadership Program for Financial Inclusion, and author of You Can Hear Me Now: How Microloans and Cell Phones are Connecting the World's Poor to the Global Economy (2007). He authored the March 2008 NMRC-published report, “Cell Phones Provide Significant Economic Gains for Low-Income American Households.”
