Wireline Bureau OKs Lifeline Waiver After USAC Error
The FCC Wireline Bureau granted waiver to Lifeline subscribers sent letters from Universal Service Administrative Co. inaccurately telling them they had 90 days rather than 60 to recertify eligibility, in an order in Thursday's Daily Digest on docket 17-287. Lifeline…
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subscribers must recertify eligibility every 12 months, and when USAC can't verify continued eligibility through its database, it sends a notification letter. Lifeline typically drops subscribers who don't recertify within 60 days, but USAC letters July 16-Sept. 18 gave 90 days. USAC corrected a system error Sept. 19 and is providing the correct 60-day deadline. By Oct. 7, about 16,000 Lifeline subscribers who had received the incorrect deadline had already recertified, but about 24,000 hadn't, or they recertified after the standard 60-day deadline.