TracFone Says PSAP Inaction Slows Rollout of Lifeline Service
TracFone told the FCC in a recent filing that it’s having major problems getting 911 certification from a handful of public safety answering points as it works to expand its Lifeline offering in various states. The FCC required TracFone to get PSAP sign off, since its service must allow customers to call 911 regardless of whether they have any available minutes on their phones. In November, TracFone asked the FCC to modify the requirement, allowing it to self-certify after 90 days of inaction on the part of a PSAP. TracFone, the nation’s largest provider of pre-paid wireless, said then it had invested considerable effort in trying to get clearances from PSAPs, and had succeeded statewide in only three states.
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TracFone said the latest filing includes information to “demonstrate how the PSAP certification process has not worked as intended, how some PSAPs have refused to provide the requested certifications for reasons having nothing to do with whether TracFone customers have access to 911 and E91I without regard to activation status or availability of prepaid minutes, and why the condition needs to be modified to enable TracFone to provide Lifeline service in a timely manner to low income households.”
In the District of Columbia, in its lead example, TracFone said it has tried to work with the Office of Unified Communications, which runs the citywide PSAP. The company said it originally contacted the office in April and was told the city must test its handsets before agreeing. Four tests followed. After completion, the OUC said it could not certify the service without further review by the city’s police department and homeland security office. “PSAP certification has not been forthcoming,” the company said. “OUC had demanded information about matters far beyond the scope of what it has been asked to certify about, and, most importantly, TracFone remains unable to offer its SafeLink Wireless Lifeline service to the thousands of low income households in the District, which would qualify for Lifeline service.”
Bethlehem, Pa., meanwhile, refused to certify the service specifically because TracFone had sought to modify the FCC order, the company said. New Hampshire, a single- PSAP state, meanwhile has refused to even acknowledge the receipt of various documents it requested from TracFone, it said. The three examples “further illustrate the shortcomings of the well-intended PSAP certification condition already addressed in TracFone’s Petition for Modification,” the carrier said. “As a result of conduct like that described herein, TracFone remains unable to provide its SafeLink Wireless Lifeline service to low income households in most of the states where it has been designated as an ETC.”