Goto Section: 54.404 | 54.407 | Table of Contents
FCC 54.405
Revised as of October 5, 2017
Goto Year:2016 |
2018
§ 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; 81 FR 45974 , July 15, 2016; 81 FR 33090 , May
24, 2016]
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Goto Section: 54.404 | 54.407
Goto Year: 2016 |
2018
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