FCC Lists Counties Where Some Lifeline Providers Are to Get Forbearance From Voice Duty
The FCC listed counties where some Lifeline providers will get forbearance relief from the duty to offer Lifeline-supported voice service, effective Sept. 15. By our count, 931 counties or county equivalents are receiving "conditional forbearance" in a list attached to…
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a Wireline Bureau public notice Monday in docket 11-42. "This forbearance applies only to the Lifeline voice obligation of eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) that are designated for purposes of receiving both high-cost and Lifeline support (high-cost/Lifeline ETCs), and not to Lifeline-only ETCs," said the PN, which cited implementation of a 2016 overhaul order. The commission in 2016 "granted forbearance from high-cost/Lifeline ETCs’ obligation to offer and advertise Lifeline voice service in counties where the following conditions are met: (a) 51 percent of Lifeline subscribers in the county are obtaining broadband Internet access service; (b) there are at least three other providers of Lifeline broadband Internet access service that each serve at least five percent of the Lifeline broadband subscribers in that county; and (c) the ETC does not actually receive federal high-cost universal service support." The listed counties "meet the first two conditions; and for ETCs that are receiving high-cost support in these counties, the forbearance applies only in areas within the county where the ETC does not receive high-cost support," it added. "Forbearance does not grant relief from the Lifeline voice service obligation as to those Lifeline subscribers that the high-cost/Lifeline ETC serves as of the date of this Public Notice."