Kentucky PSC, Utah Legislature Address Shrinking State USFs
The Kentucky Public Service Commission ended Lifeline support for about 149,000 cellphone users, refocusing funds on about 17,000 eligible elderly and rural customers with landlines, the state commission said in a Friday news release. Meanwhile, the Utah legislature passed a…
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bill Thursday that includes making wireless companies eligible for state Lifeline support. Under the Kentucky PSC order, the state on May 1 will no longer give $3.50 monthly for low-income customers’ wireless services, it said. With the FCC phasing out Lifeline subsidies for landline voice services in December 2021, Kentucky will gradually increase its Lifeline subsidy for those services to $7.50 per month, it said. With far fewer customers to be supported by Kentucky Lifeline, the state USF surcharge on customer phone bills will drop to 3 cents from 14 cents on July 1, the PSC said. The commission launched a review of the state USF in February last year after seeing the fund was on the verge of running out, a problem also seen in other states (see 1607010010). The agency decided an increasing number of wireless customers qualifying for Lifeline shrank the USF balance, it said. Last March, the PSC tried increasing the contribution surcharge to 14 cents from 8 cents, but then three more wireless providers with about 85,000 Lifeline customers applied for state Lifeline funds, it said. Supporting them would have required the PSC to increase the surcharge again to 21 cents, but the agency decided that was an unreasonable burden for the public, it said: “What is clear is that the program cannot continue in its current form.” Low-income customers can still get a $9.25 monthly federal subsidy for wireless service and competition should keep wireless rates low even without the state Lifeline subsidy, it said. In Utah, another state with a shrinking USF fund, the legislature passed SB-130, which includes a provision adding wireless Lifeline support. The Senate voted 26-0 Thursday to concur with a House amendment after the House voted 74-0 in support the same day. It says telecom companies providing access lines, connections or wholesale broadband internet access service qualify for state USF distributions. It requires each provider to contribute to the USF and requires the PSC to develop a method for calculating the amount of each contribution. The bill could add revenue to the state USF, said a fiscal note Monday (see 1703060050).