93% of U.S. Lifeline Accounts Now are Mobile, Not Fixed

In the last reporting period where data seems to be available, mobile subscriptions accounted for about 93 percent of support under the Lifeline program that subsidizes basic communications, and once represented support for fixed network voice connections for low-income customers.

That is a dramatic shift, and illustrates the changes in consumer end user demand that have occurred over the last few decades. The fact that low-income customers no longer wish to buy fixed network voice connections explains why support for rural communications also has shifted to broadband, not voice. 

Perhaps part of the shift in value, beyond simple mobility, is the bundling of internet access with voice, something that is not offered by fixed connections.