FCC Grants Lifeline Waivers, Hears Broadband Pilot Suggestions, State Concerns
The FCC Wireline Bureau granted Lifeline waivers because of program changes and events like Superstorm Sandy (http://xrl.us/bn4oia). Affordable, Absolute and Sprint Nextel don’t have to recertify Lifeline customers because the carriers aren’t serving any Lifeline after Dec. 31, Friday’s order said. “Requiring these subscribers to recertify their eligibility would likely cause confusion and frustration, and is not necessary because the remedy for identifying an ineligible subscriber is to de-enroll that subscriber -- which effectively is happening in any event because these ETCs will no longer provide Lifeline service to these groups.” Oregon continues to press the bureau about administrative burdens building up in an expiring waiver, as states asked to opt out of a national database, filings released Monday show.
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Staff from the Oregon and California public utility commissions “expressed concern” in a Nov. 28 meeting about an expiring Lifeline requirement waiver, said an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bn4n5o). The temporary waiver should extend past Dec. 1, staff told FCC officials. The Oregon Public Utility Commission made the point in a Friday FCC petition, filed jointly with the Oregon Telecommunications Association. “Good cause exists to support a permanent waiver of the rules,” though the current waiver should be extended only to June 1, the Oregon parties said (http://xrl.us/bn4n6n). The state’s PUC and telecom association had expressed deep concerns in a mid-November ex parte filing and warned that the FCC rules, unless waived, will force the PUC to needlessly “photocopy and mail an average of 2,500 to 4,000 (and growing) certification forms each month to the consumer’s respective ETC” (CD Nov 20 p12). The FCC appears “unlikely” to kill the requirements “in sufficient time,” the petition said, asking instead for the extended waiver. There’s “nothing of value to the ETC that is contained in the physical forms,” said the filing, signed by the three Oregon commissioners and the association’s executive vice president, Brant Wolf.
Connected Nation staff presented statistics at a Thursday meeting with FCC officials about how subsidies could play a part in broadband adoption, said an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bn4okg). “Price sensitivity is significantly different across various ‘vulnerable’ demographics on the wrong side of the digital divide,” the presentation said. The FCC is starting Lifeline pilots that subsidize broadband in the near future (CD Nov 14 p22). Connected Nation suggested looking at barriers to adoption besides price.
Superstorm Sandy created enough devastation that the FCC should delay its Lifeline recertification deadlines for customers, Sprint said (http://xrl.us/bn4odq). The carrier echoed Verizon’s request that this deadline be extended three months to March 31 in New York and New Jersey. “As was true for Verizon, the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy, particularly in New York and New Jersey, also has negatively impacted Assurance Wireless’ customers and its recertification efforts,” Sprint said of its affiliated Lifeline provider. Sprint said thousands of Assurance Lifeline customers may have faced mailing problems. The FCC granted an extension to Verizon Friday. George Korn, an aide to Rainbow/Push Coalition Chairman Jesse Jackson, noted Nexus Communications was unable to help New York customers after Sandy because the FCC hadn’t approved its application yet, said an ex parte filing. Korn was unhappy about the delays associated with Nexus’s compliance plan and a 10-state ETC petition in limbo since April 2011. Nexus is “a good corporate citizen and has clearly and repeatedly demonstrated a commitment to compliance,” Korn said. “It is disconcerting that millions of low income Americans in states like New York, Tennessee, Virginia and Alabama have very limited choices for wireless Lifeline service due to lack of approvals,” he wrote in an ex parte filing about a Nov. 28 meeting (http://xrl.us/bn4of2). “I also expressed my concern regarding the nature of the approval process, stressing the need for clear criteria, transparency and fairness."
The FCC also granted waivers to i-wireless, PR Wireless and in one instance, to TracFone in Friday’s order, largely addressing administrative changes and confusion involved in the program over the past year. Smith Bagley received a 90-day extension for recertifying its Lifeline customers, the order said, citing the company’s demonstration that it “needs additional time to complete its ongoing outreach efforts to educate its subscribers.”
Oregon and Puerto Rico want to opt out of the FCC’s national Lifeline accountability database. The U.S. territory has succeeded at reducing duplication in the Lifeline program, and meets the FCC requirements for opting out, said its Telecommunications Regulatory Board (http://xrl.us/bn4n76). It described its “comprehensive” centralized database and “an immediate decrease in the number of duplicate Lifeline subscribers” due to its efficiency. “During the first month, the database identified 113,294 duplicate social security numbers and 11,367 duplicate addresses,” the board said. “As of September 2012, there were nine duplicate social security numbers and 105 duplicate addresses.” The Oregon PUC prevents its telcos from directly accessing its database in queries, the PUC noted. “The ETCs cannot ’troll’ through the database to identify potential customers to lure from another ETC nor can an ETC access information of other ETCs’ customers for marketing purposes.”