Tennessee’s consumer advocate division disagrees that the Tennessee Regulatory Authority...
Tennessee’s consumer advocate division disagrees that the Tennessee Regulatory Authority should kill the state Lifeline fund, as a coalition of state industry forces have encouraged in recent months. The advocate filed its objections with the TRA Monday (http://xrl.us/bnvop9). “It is…
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not simply a question of whether to end or continue Tennessee’s Lifeline program,” the advocate said. The 93,000 state residents who use the program amount to a “significant” consideration and the TRA should investigate its options rather than just end the program, it said. The consumer advocate pointed out options, such as creating a state USF fund, changing the eligibility requirements for Lifeline credit and possibly to sunset the program for future thorough review. “At this time, the Consumer Advocate is unaware of any state that has ended its state Lifeline credit program or state universal service fund,” it said, calling the move possibly “premature.” AT&T reiterated its objection to the “unfunded, landline-only discount,” in a Monday brief (http://xrl.us/bnvoqf). CenturyLink, TDS Telecom, tw telecom and Level 3 endorsed the AT&T brief in separate filings submitted Monday and Tuesday. Monday marked the authority’s deadline for filing briefs on the proposal to end the program.