Starting this month, people who qualify for the federal Lifeline telecommunications subsidy can apply their $9.25-per-month benefit to broadband internet service at home.

The home broadband benefit is a first for the program, which was established during the Reagan administration and became known as “Obamaphone” in 2012. The Federal Communication Commission’s new rules for Lifeline took effect Dec. 2, so it’s too early to tell how many of Oregon’s 66,000 users will apply their benefit to home internet service, said Jon Cray, who manages the program for the Oregon Public Utility Commission.

Several telecommunications companies participate in the program in Oregon, but CenturyLink is the only one providing home internet access. Karen Stewart, local government affairs director for CenturyLink, also said it’s too soon to tell how many customers will seek Lifeline benefits for home broadband. CenturyLink will provide home broadband in areas where it also provides local phone service, she said. That includes Bend and parts of Deschutes, Crook and Jefferson counties, she said.

Affordable broadband internet is still out of reach for 43 percent of the poorest U.S. households, according to the FCC.

Lifeline, a $2.25 billion program, is paid from the Universal Service Fund, which is funded by fees paid by wireline and wireless telephone service providers and passed on to their customers.

In Oregon, Lifeline participants are eligible to receive an additional $3.50 per month to apply to their bills for landline or wireless phone service. That subsidy comes from the Residential Service Protection Fund, which charges 7 cents per month to landline and wireless customers and also pays for two other programs for low-income and disabled residents.

BendBroadband doesn’t participate in Lifeline because it’s only open to traditional phone companies, but the cable television and internet provider is trying to increase local participation in Connect2Compete, a cable-industry program that offers discounted internet service to low-income households with school-age children, spokeswoman Krista Ledbetter said. Funded by BendBroadband, a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, Connect2Compete provides service with download speeds up to 15 megabits per second for $9.95 per month. Qualifying households must be connected through partnering organizations: Habitat for Humanity, Boys and Girls Club and the Family Access Network.

Both the FCC and the cable industry are concerned about the so-called “homework gap,” in which children lacking internet access have less opportunity to keep up with school work.

Amber Schmied of Bend qualified for Connect2Compete because she’s a Habitat for Humanity homeowner, and she has a daughter in second grade. While she anticipates internet access will come into play with her daughter’s homework in a few years, she said the discounted internet is crucial for her own education now. Schmied, 36, is working on a teaching degree through an online program. She enrolled in it three years ago, before she even had a laptop or internet service.

“Continuing my education is very important to me,” Schmied said. She used to go to her parents’ house to do her schoolwork, but now she can spend time at her kitchen table after her daughter goes to bed.

Lifeline eligibility is not tied to the presence of school-age children. People can qualify through participation in various federal aid programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid and Veterans Pension. The Oregon PUC Public will start reaching out to veterans in early 2017 to tell them about their eligibility, Cray said.

The Lifeline program dates back to 1985, when it only supported landline telephone service. Lifeline became known as “Obamaphone” in 2012, thanks to a viral YouTube video and talk-radio hosts who decried its ballooning cost. The FCC in 2008 had expanded the program to include prepaid wireless voice service.

People can still use the subsidy for wireless voice and data service, but the subsidy for stand-alone voice service will be phased out by Dec. 1, 2021. In addition to CenturyLink, U.S. Cellular, SafeLink Wireless by TracFone, Assurance Wireless by Virgin Mobile and enTouch Wireless by Boomerang are participating in Oregon Lifeline.

— Reporter: 541-617-7860; kmclaughlin@bendbulletin.com,