FCC Reverses 2008 USAC Decision Against Verizon/Alltel
The FCC Wireline Bureau on Tuesday reversed four Universal Service Administrative Co. audit decisions denying reimbursements for Lifeline support that Verizon/Alltel provided to eligible residents of tribal lands in North Dakota and South Dakota in 2007. Verizon Wireless acquired Alltel Wireless in 2008.
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USAC found in 2008 that Alltel had provided Lifeline discounts to duplicate addresses “in violation of the rule that subscribers can only obtain discounts ‘for a single telephone line in their principal residence,’” the bureau said.
However, in 2012, the commission “acknowledged this one-per-household requirement was unclear, because the rule was not codified, did not define ‘household,’ and was difficult to administer given the proliferation of individual wireless handsets, multiple-household residences (especially in Tribal communities), a lack of unique U.S. postal addresses in some Tribal communities, and the lack of a database for checking intercompany duplicate,” the order said.
In addition, it found that “Alltel’s approach to providing non-duplicative Lifeline services to Tribal residents was reasonably sufficient, in light of the rules in place in 2007 and the similarity of Alltel’s approach to the requirements for subscriber self-certifications adopted by the Commission in the 2012 Lifeline Reform Order.”