§ 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 de-enroll any subscriber who fails to
   demonstrate eligibility within five business days after the expiration
   of the subscriber's time to respond. 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 30 consecutive days a Lifeline service
   that does not require the eligible telecommunications carrier to assess
   and collect a monthly fee from its subscribers, an eligible
   telecommunications carrier must provide the subscriber 15 days' notice,
   using clear, easily understood language, that the subscriber's failure
   to use the Lifeline service within the 15-day notice period will result
   in service termination for non-usage under this paragraph. 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); or who fails to provide the
   annual one-per-household re-certifications as required by § 54.410(f).
   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 will trigger de-enrollment. A subscriber must
   be given 60 days to respond to recertification efforts. 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.

   (5) De-enrollment requested by subscriber. If an eligible
   telecommunications carrier receives a request from a subscriber to
   de-enroll, it must de-enroll the subscriber within two business days
   after the request.

   [ 77 FR 12969 , Mar. 2, 2012, as amended at  80 FR 35577 , June 22, 2015;
    81 FR 33090 , May 24, 2016]

   Effective Date Notes: 1. At  81 FR 33090 , May 24, 2016, § 54.405 was
   amended by revising paragraphs (e)(1), (3) and (4) and adding paragraph
   (e)(5). These paragraphs contain information collection and
   recordkeeping requirements and will not become effective until approval
   has been given by the Office of Management and Budget.

   2. At  81 FR 45974 , § 54.405, paragraph (e)(3) was amended. This
   paragraph contains information collection and recordkeeping
   requirements and will not become effective until approval has been
   given by the Office of Management and Budget.

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