Q Link Wireless Urges FCC to Slow Lifeline NV Rollout

said in a Monday meeting with the Wireline Bureau, per a filing in docket 09-197 posted Thursday. “The unabated string of National Verifier hard launches and the recent start of mass de-enrollments for those who have yet to pass reverification is alarming,” it said. “Q Link alone has had thousands of subscribers de-enrolled in Colorado and Utah, many, if not all, of whom appear to be eligible.” The company is glad Universal Service Administrative Co. is developing an API for machine-to-machine communication, but “Q Link and the rural and suburban customers it serves lack an alternative way for enrollment and verification information from online consumers to be transmitted to USAC,” the provider said. “With each successive hard launch, more online consumers in rural and suburban areas lack an effective way to enroll (or re-enroll) in Lifeline.” The FCC “could prevent this problem from getting worse by not proceeding to hard launch in any more states pending completion of the API and securing adequate database access (i.e., SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] and Medicaid at a minimum),” it said. “Suspending hard launches and reverifications would allow USAC to work collaboratively with all stakeholders to ensure systems are working properly before disconnecting consumers.” The FCC inspector general's most recent improper payments report found 18.5 percent ($227 million) of Lifeline payments in 2017 were improper, a spokesperson said. "The FCC began rolling out the National Eligibility Verifier in 2018, and it is critical that we continue this rollout to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse."