Smith Bagley Asks FCC for Quick Action on Lifeline Waiver
Smith Bagley Inc. (SBI) asked the FCC for prompt action on a petition it filed in September seeking a waiver of revised FCC rules for the Lifeline program. “Several weeks ago, FCC staff advised SBI that it should begin tracking…
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its contract customers and disconnecting service for those not using their devices,” said a filing this week in docket 11-42. “In SBI’s view, disconnecting Tribal citizens living in the most difficult of circumstances is a remedy of last resort,” the carrier said: “Accordingly, while we are following staff’s advice to track our customers and identifying those that do not use their devices within the prescribed period, we are not disconnecting them.” SBI noted that for more than 15 years, thousands of its Tribal Lifeline customers have signed one-year contracts for mobile voice and data service, paying the entirety of the customer’s portion up front. “These households, among the most in need of the federal Lifeline benefit, have relied on this contractual arrangement to receive service,” SBI said.