USAC Faces O'Rielly Criticism on Lifeline Data as Starks Concerned on NV Rollout
FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly renewed his criticism of Lifeline's administrator, and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks expressed concern about problems with federal electronic certification of customers for the telecoms service for the poor. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said his agency wants to work with states on making database connections. The regulators spoke in Q&A with us after commissioners' meeting Friday. Earlier last week, states worried some could be dropped from Lifeline rolls when their jurisdictions began mandatory use of the national verifier after Wednesday's hard launch.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
The FCC plan is for new customers to use the NV automated service in all states by year's end, and it would verify eligibility once for existing users, per Tuesday's Wireline Bureau order denying extra time for Connecticut, Georgia, Nebraska, New York and Vermont (see 1910230057). "No subscribers are de-enrolled simply because a state has not provided the National Verifier access to a state eligibility database." Also under the NV, once annually, subscribers would be recertified. Pai noted Friday that data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as of last month is connected to the NV. That has "allowed numerous customers" including 67 percent in New York state "to be automatically verified" using CMS data since that connection began, he told us.
"Manual verification continues for other customers," if their eligibility for government-subsidized telecom service can't be checked through the NV, Pai said. For states wanting to engage with his agency, "the door remains open for working with us," he said. "We are always willing to work with states that are looking to establish a connection with us." He "can’t improve upon what the bureau said in that order" along these lines. Commissioner Brendan Carr said later that Pai's office and bureau staff have been "very actively engaged on this issue."
Universal Service Administrative Co. could make improvements, O'Rielly said about Lifeline's administrator. "It was hard to get data points on exactly what was happening in the states." There are process and other issues with USAC, the commissioner said. USAC declined to comment. FCC members of both parties said now that they back the NV as a way to address any Lifeline waste, fraud and abuse. O'Rielly's "just trying to get data points on the particulars." Some "facts on the ground" don't "match up with some" other statistics, he said.
Starks is "troubled that the national verifier is having such implementation problems," he told us later. He cited "not being able to have a program that is effective and effectuates the goal of getting phones in folks' hands so that they can get a job" and otherwise use phones. "We do have to have secure programs" so they "don’t have waste, fraud and abuse," he said. He said the NV "is obviously an integral part of our Lifeline program now." The NV manual paperwork "review process has a number of folks who aren’t able to get ported into the program," Starks said. "It is essential that we get phones as quickly as possible for folks that are eligible."
FCC "contempt for states with concerns about the effective implementation" disappoints Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, said her statement to us. "We need to work cooperatively with our state colleagues if we want to ensure a successful rollout of the verifier." The agency should "be honest about the present limitations" of the verifier and issue "a plan to address the databases for which it lacks access,” she added.
Homeless shelters can be a place to sign up for Lifeline. Homeless clients in such facilities "would be eligible for a Lifeline phone," Starks said in Q&A. "It should be part of the suite of providing for folks a way to help empower them." He cited Miriam's Kitchen in Washington.
Starks saw when visiting Miriam's Kitchen earlier this year that people there were helping clients who were in the process of applying for Lifeline, his aide recalled Friday. That organization, a national association of shelters and the city's relevant agency didn't comment now on any Lifeline efforts for the homeless.