TracFone Wireless, the largest Obamaphone vendor, receives more than $9 per line from the federal government for each phone it distributes to the poor, but sells similar service to the general public for less than $7.

TracFone receives $9.25 per line from the federal government for every subscriber it signs up under the Federal Communications Commission’s Lifeline program, which uses fees from paying customers to subsidize poor Americans’ phones. The firm has refused to tell regulators how much it actually costs to provide service, and the industry paints its involvement in the program as being altruistic.

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