Goto Section: 54.404 | 54.407 | Table of Contents
FCC 54.405
Revised as of December 4, 2012
Goto Year:2011 |
2013
§ 54.405 Carrier obligation to offer Lifeline.
All eligible telecommunications carriers must:
(a) Make available Lifeline service, as defined in § 54.401, to
qualifying low-income consumers.
(b) Publicize the availability of Lifeline service in a manner
reasonably designed to reach those likely to qualify for the service.
(c) Indicate on all materials describing the service, using easily
understood language, that it is a Lifeline service, that Lifeline is a
government assistance program, the service is non-transferable, only
eligible consumers may enroll in the program, and the program is
limited to one discount per household. For the purposes of this
section, the term “materials describing the service” includes all
print, audio, video, and web materials used to describe or enroll in
the Lifeline service offering, including application and certification
forms.
(d) Disclose the name of the eligible telecommunications carrier on all
materials describing the service.
(e) De-enrollment —(1) De-enrollment generally. If an eligible
telecommunications carrier has a reasonable basis to believe that a
Lifeline subscriber no longer meets the criteria to be considered a
qualifying low-income consumer under § 54.409, the carrier must notify
the subscriber of impending termination of his or her Lifeline service.
Notification of impending termination must be sent in writing separate
from the subscriber's monthly bill, if one is provided, and must be
written in clear, easily understood language. A carrier providing
Lifeline service in a state that has dispute resolution procedures
applicable to Lifeline termination, that requires, at a minimum,
written notification of impending termination, must comply with the
applicable state requirements. The carrier must allow a subscriber
30-days following the date of the impending termination letter required
to demonstrate continued eligibility. A subscriber making such a
demonstration must present proof of continued eligibility to the
carrier consistent with applicable annual re-certification
requirements, as described in § 54.410(f). An eligible
telecommunications carrier must terminate any subscriber who fails to
demonstrate continued eligibility within the 30-day time period. A
carrier providing Lifeline service in a state that has dispute
resolution procedures applicable to Lifeline termination must comply
with the applicable state requirements.
(2) De-enrollment for duplicative support. Notwithstanding paragraph
(e)(1) of this section, upon notification by the Administrator to any
eligible telecommunications carrier that a subscriber is receiving
Lifeline service from another eligible telecommunications carrier or
that more than one member of a subscriber's household is receiving
Lifeline service and therefore that the subscriber should be
de-enrolled from participation in that carrier's Lifeline program, the
eligible telecommunications carrier must de-enroll the subscriber from
participation in that carrier's Lifeline program within five business
days. An eligible telecommunications carrier shall not be eligible for
Lifeline reimbursement for any de-enrolled subscriber following the
date of that subscriber's de-enrollment.
(3) De-enrollment for non-usage. Notwithstanding paragraph (e)(1) of
this section, if a Lifeline subscriber fails to use, as “usage” is
defined in § 54.407(c)(2), for 60 consecutive days a Lifeline service
that does not require the eligible telecommunications carrier to assess
or collect a monthly fee from its subscribers, an eligible
telecommunications carrier must provide the subscriber 30 days' notice,
using clear, easily understood language, that the subscriber's failure
to use the Lifeline service within the 30-day notice period will result
in service termination for non-usage under this paragraph. If the
subscriber uses the Lifeline service within 30 days of the carrier
providing such notice, the eligible telecommunications carrier shall
not terminate the subscriber's Lifeline service. Eligible
telecommunications carriers shall report to the Commission annually the
number of subscribers de-enrolled for non-usage under this paragraph.
This de-enrollment information must be reported by month and must be
submitted to the Commission at the time an eligible telecommunications
carrier submits its annual certification report pursuant to § 54.416.
(4) De-enrollment for failure to re-certify. Notwithstanding paragraph
(e)(1) of this section, an eligible telecommunications carrier must
de-enroll a Lifeline subscriber who does not respond to the carrier's
attempts to obtain re-certification of the subscriber's continued
eligibility as required by § 54.410(f); who fails to provide the annual
one-per-household re-certifications as required by § 54.410(f); or who
relies on a temporary address and fails to respond to the carrier's
address re-certification attempts pursuant to § 54.410(g). Prior to
de-enrolling a subscriber under this paragraph, the eligible
telecommunications carrier must notify the subscriber in writing
separate from the subscriber's monthly bill, if one is provided using
clear, easily understood language, that failure to respond to the
re-certification request within 30 days of the date of the request will
trigger de-enrollment. If a subscriber does not respond to the
carrier's notice of impending de-enrollment, the carrier must de-enroll
the subscriber from Lifeline within five business days after the
expiration of the subscriber's time to respond to the re-certification
efforts.
[ 77 FR 12969 , Mar. 2, 2012]
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Goto Section: 54.404 | 54.407
Goto Year: 2011 |
2013
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