In a Second Report & Order (Second R&O)—published in the Federal Register January 13, 2021, with an effective date of March 15, 2022—the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) unanimously adopted rules that implement the...more
On June 30, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) made final the Commission's prior proposed designation of Huawei Technologies Company (Huawei) and ZTE...more
2018 Poverty Guidelines - The 2018 Federal Poverty Guidelines (“FPG”) were published in the Federal Register on January 18. Customers may qualify for Lifeline if their gross total household income is at or below 135...more
Although the future of the Lifeline program is in doubt, business must go on. ETCs should familiarize themselves with two key administrative changes taking place in 2018. The FCC issued a Public Notice last week reminding...more
The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau has granted temporary waivers of the Lifeline non-usage and recertification rules to help the more than 1.1 million Lifeline customers in Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands...more
On July 11, 2017, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai sent a letter to USAC requesting that it implement various audit mechanisms and safeguards to protect the Lifeline program from waste, fraud, and abuse. This letter comes on the heels...more
Four days after ETCs were required to submit FCC Form 481 (54.313 / 54.422 Data Collection Form); the FCC released an order streamlining the process for high-cost USF recipients by eliminating reporting requirements it deemed...more
After some months of delay, the FCC has launched the second phase in its plans to provide significant subsidies over the next decade to fund the expansion of mobile wireless services to unserved rural areas of the country. ...more
In a brief Order released last Friday, the Wireline Competition Bureau clarified that recipients of high-cost funding were not required to create any standalone Lifeline-specific broadband service offerings. After the...more
On Nov. 22nd, the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau issued a Public Notice describing the requirement that ETCs who do not want to provide Lifeline-supported broadband internet access services (now known as “BIAS”) file a...more
Late last week, the FCC issued guidance on its new re-certification rules. The current rule requires Lifeline ETCs to conduct their annual re-certification efforts without regard to an individual subscriber’s Lifeline start...more
On September 30th the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau issued a Public Notice describing the new Lifeline Broadband Provider (“LBP”) designation process, including details regarding what applicants should include in their...more
On July 15, the FCC issued an Order approving a consent decree between Blue Jay Wireless and the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, ending the Bureau’s investigation into whether Blue Jay’s Tribal Lifeline enrollments in Hawaii from...more
Twelve states have filed a petition for review with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit challenging the FCC’s decision in the Lifeline Modernization Order to create a new type of federal ETC for the provision of...more
As was expected after the FCC’s sweeping Lifeline rule changes, several parties filed Petitions for Reconsideration of the controversial Lifeline Modernization Order. Petitioners, consisting of trade associations, ETCs, and...more
The FCC announced on May 31 that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved changes to the FCC Form 481 (Carrier Annual Reporting Data Collection Form), which is due July 1. The revised Form 481 includes a...more
On May 18th, 2016, the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau released a Public Notice informing carriers with pending Lifeline compliance plans or applications for designation as an ETC that they must submit an “affirmative...more
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) released the Lifeline Modernization Order on April 27, 2016, to modernize the Lifeline program to support broadband Internet access, which “has become a prerequisite...more
Commissioner Pai is seeking to identify other wireless ETCs that were allegedly engaged in practices similar to those detailed in the FCC’s recent Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) issued against Total Call Mobile. In a...more
Last summer, the FCC adopted new rules for the Lifeline program in its Second Order and NPRM (see our prior analysis of the order), including: the retention of eligibility documentation (such as scans of food stamp cards); an...more
In its June 2015 Lifeline Order on Reconsideration, the FCC adopted a new rule which requires ETCs to retain documentation demonstrating subscriber eligibility for Lifeline, such as a copy of the applicant’s food stamp card...more
Last week, the FCC released its second major order in the Lifeline reform proceeding: Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Order on Reconsideration, Second Report and Order, and Memorandum Opinion and Order...more
Thursday, the FCC adopted an order and further notice of proposed rulemaking (referred to below as “Order and FNPRM”) that will revise some aspects of the Lifeline program and proposes to make even larger changes, including...more
Last Friday, staff in the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau issued a report summarizing the results of the FCC’s Lifeline broadband pilot program. The program was designed to determine how the Lifeline program might address...more
The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau has released new guidancefcc-logo_white-on-light-blue for ETCs that choose to have USAC recertify their Lifeline subscribers (instead of undertaking the recertification process...more