The FCC should consider limiting Lifeline/Link-Up reimbursement to a single...

No one should be denied a phone because they live in a group facility, CompTel said. The FCC should also reject arguments that Link-Up reimbursements for non-recurring costs should be limited or eliminated, the group said. “Doing so would recreate a barrier to subscribership for low income consumers,” CompTel said. “The Link-Up program was created to reimburse [eligible telecommunications carriers] for the revenues they forgo in providing low income consumers a discount on service activation fees. Service activation fees are standard in both the wireline and wireless industries and in the absence of Link-Up assistance, consumers will be forced to pay 100 percent of those charges, which very well may discourage consumers from signing up for telephone service.” A beefed up Lifeline/Link-Up program could eventually supplant other Universal Service Fund programs and the FCC should resist “artificially constraining the size of the program, especially now when the nation’s consumers are in the midst of difficult economic times,” the Free State Foundation said Friday in a filing at the FCC (http://xrl.us/bmbk9j). “We support ongoing efforts, such as some the proposals put forward by the Commission, to ensure the programs operate with integrity and efficiency,” the filing said. “For example, we support pro-efficiency and anti-fraud measures to eliminate duplicate enrollment by the same customers with multiple [eligible telecom carriers], to provide Link-Up support to reimburse only costs actually incurred for initiating service, and to improve methods for verifying customers’ eligibility.” The group said the Lifeline program is inherently more efficient than other USF programs. “A primary strength of the Lifeline/Link-Up programs is that their subsidies are targeted to those low-income persons that need them,” the filing said. “Subsidies targeted to individuals are more efficient and can be more reliably monitored for accountability than subsidies targeted more broadly to service providers."