Lifeline Group Asks FCC to Waive Rules Cutting 'Non-Usage' Period for De-Enrollment
The Lifeline Connects Coalition asked FCC staff to temporarily waive new rules that shorten a "nonusage window" from 60 days to 30 days and a "cure period" from 30 days to 15 days. Under rules adopted as part of a…
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FCC Lifeline broadband and administrative overhaul, many wireless Lifeline providers would be required to de-enroll low-income customers who don't use the subsidized service for 30 days and fail to cure that nonuse in 15 days. Absent a waiver, "many eligible low-income consumers face the significant likelihood that they will through no action of their own be denied Lifeline benefits to which they are entitled and for which they have expressed no desire to discontinue," said an LCC petition to the Wireline Bureau posted Wednesday in docket 11-42, saying millions may lose service. The LCC also asked the bureau to direct Universal Service Administrative Co. to rescind guidance that would implement the 30-day nonusage rule prior to Dec. 2, which the group called "unlawful and impractical" to administer. It further asked the commission to waive a rule barring reimbursements for providers serving Lifeline subscribers enrolled in the program who are in a non-usage cure period. The LCC said the rules should be waived until the commission resolves TracFone's related petition for reconsideration and stay motion (see 1609190008). LCC members are Telrite, i-wireless, Blue Jay Wireless and American Broadband & Telecommunications Co.