T-Mobile to pay $200 million fine to resolve FCC subsidy investigation

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – T-Mobile (O:TMUS) will pay a $200 million penalty to resolve a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) investigation into its subsidiary Sprint for failing to comply with rules on a low-income subsidy program, the government said Wednesday.

An FCC probe found Sprint, prior to its merger with T-Mobile, was claiming monthly subsidies for serving 885,000 subscribers in the program known as Lifeline even though those subscribers were not using the service.