§  54.321   Reporting and certification requirements for Alaska Plan
participants.

   Any competitive eligible telecommunications carrier authorized to
   receive Alaska Plan support pursuant to § 54.317 shall provide:

   (a) No later than 60 days after the end of each participating carrier's
   first five-year term of support, a certification that it has met the
   obligations contained in the performance plan approved by the Wireless
   Telecommunications Bureau, including any obligations pursuant to a
   revised approved performance plan and that it has met the requisite
   public interest obligations contained in the Alaska Plan Order. For
   Alaska Plan participants receiving more than $5 million annually in
   support, this certification shall be accompanied by data received or
   used from drive tests analyzing network coverage for mobile service
   covering the population for which support was received and showing
   mobile transmissions to and from the carrier's network meeting or
   exceeding the minimum expected download and upload speeds delineated in
   the approved performance plan.

   (b) No later than 60 days after the end of each participating carrier's
   second five-year term of support, a certification that it has met the
   obligations contained in the performance plan approved by the Wireless
   Telecommunications Bureau, including any obligations pursuant to a
   revised approved performance plan, and that it has met the requisite
   public interest obligations contained in the Alaska Plan Order. For
   Alaska Plan participants receiving more than $5 million annually in
   support, this certification shall be accompanied by data received or
   used from drive tests analyzing network coverage for mobile service
   covering the population for which support was received and showing
   mobile transmissions to and from the carrier's network meeting or
   exceeding the minimum expected download and upload speeds delineated in
   the approved performance plan.

   [ 81 FR 69716 , Oct. 7, 2016]

   

Subpart E--Universal Service Support for Low-Income Consumers

   

54.400   Terms and definitions.

   As used in this subpart, the following terms shall be defined as
   follows:

   (a) Qualifying low-income consumer. A "qualifying low-income consumer"
   is a consumer who meets the qualifications for Lifeline, as specified
   in § 54.409.

   (b) Toll blocking service. "Toll blocking service" is a service
   provided by an eligible telecommunications carrier that lets
   subscribers elect not to allow the completion of outgoing toll calls
   from their telecommunications channel.

   (c) Toll control service. "Toll control service" is a service provided
   by an eligible telecommunications carrier that allows subscribers to
   specify a certain amount of toll usage that may be incurred on their
   telecommunications channel per month or per billing cycle.

   (d) Toll limitation service. "Toll limitation service" denotes either
   toll blocking service or toll control service for eligible
   telecommunications carriers that are incapable of providing both
   services. For eligible telecommunications carriers that are capable of
   providing both services, "toll limitation service" denotes both toll
   blocking service and toll control service.

   (e) Eligible resident of Tribal lands. An "eligible resident of Tribal
   lands" is a "qualifying low-income consumer," as defined in paragraph
   (a) of this section, living on Tribal lands. For purposes of this
   subpart, "Tribal lands" include any federally recognized Indian tribe's
   reservation, pueblo, or colony, including former reservations in
   Oklahoma; Alaska Native regions established pursuant to the Alaska
   Native Claims Settlement Act (85 Stat. 688); Indian allotments;
   Hawaiian Home Lands--areas held in trust for Native Hawaiians by the
   state of Hawaii, pursuant to the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920
   July 9, 1921, 42 Stat. 108, et. seq., as amended; and any land
   designated as such by the Commission for purposes of this subpart
   pursuant to the designation process in § 54.412.

   (f) Income. "Income" means gross income as defined under section 61 of
   the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. 61, for all members of the
   household. This means all income actually received by all members of
   the household from whatever source derived, unless specifically
   excluded by the Internal Revenue Code, Part III of Title 26, 26 U.S.C.
   101 et seq.

   (g) Duplicative support. "Duplicative support" exists when a Lifeline
   subscriber is receiving two or more Lifeline services concurrently or
   two or more subscribers in a household are receiving Lifeline services
   or Tribal Link Up support concurrently.

   (h) Household. A "household" is any individual or group of individuals
   who are living together at the same address as one economic unit. A
   household may include related and unrelated persons. An "economic unit"
   consists of all adult individuals contributing to and sharing in the
   income and expenses of a household. An adult is any person eighteen
   years or older. If an adult has no or minimal income, and lives with
   someone who provides financial support to him/her, both people shall be
   considered part of the same household. Children under the age of
   eighteen living with their parents or guardians are considered to be
   part of the same household as their parents or guardians.

   (i) National Lifeline Accountability Database or Database. The
   "National Lifeline Accountability Database" or "Database" is an
   electronic system, with associated functions, processes, policies and
   procedures, to facilitate the detection and elimination of duplicative
   support, as directed by the Commission.

   (j) Qualifying assistance program. A "qualifying assistance program"
   means any of the federal or Tribal assistance programs the
   participation in which, pursuant to § 54.409(a) or (b), qualifies a
   consumer for Lifeline service, including Medicaid; Supplemental
   Nutrition Assistance Program; Supplemental Security Income; Federal
   Public Housing Assistance; Veterans and Survivors Pension Benefit;
   Bureau of Indian Affairs general assistance; Tribally administered
   Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (Tribal TANF); Head Start (only
   those households meeting its income qualifying standard); or the Food
   Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR).

   (k) Direct service. As used in this subpart, direct service means the
   provision of service directly to the qualifying low-income consumer.

   (l) Broadband Internet access service. "Broadband Internet access
   service" is defined as a mass-market retail service by wire or radio
   that provides the capability to transmit data to and receive data from
   all or substantially all Internet endpoints, including any capabilities
   that are incidental to and enable the operation of the communications
   service, but excluding dial-up service.

   (m) Voice telephony service. "Voice telephony service" is defined as
   voice grade access to the public switched network or its functional
   equivalent; minutes of use for local service provided at no additional
   charge to end users; access to the emergency services provided by local
   government or other public safety organizations, such as 911 and
   enhanced 911, to the extent the local government in an eligible
   carrier's service area has implemented 911 or enhanced 911 systems; and
   toll limitation services to qualifying low-income consumers as provided
   in subpart E of this part.

   (n) Supported services. Voice Telephony services and broadband Internet
   access services are supported services for the Lifeline program.

   (o) National Lifeline Eligibility Verifier. The "National Lifeline
   Eligibility Verifier" or "National Verifier" is an electronic and
   manual system with associated functions, processes, policies and
   procedures, to facilitate the determination of consumer eligibility for
   the Lifeline program, as directed by the Commission.

   (p) Enrollment representatives. An employee, agent, contractor, or
   subcontractor, acting on behalf of an eligible telecommunications
   carrier or third-party entity, who directly or indirectly provides
   information to the Universal Service Administrative Company or a state
   entity administering the Lifeline Program for the purpose of
   eligibility verification, enrollment, recertification, subscriber
   personal information updates, benefit transfers, or de-enrollment.

   [ 77 FR 12966 , Mar. 2, 2012, as amended at  80 FR 40935 , July 14, 2015;
    81 FR 33089 , May 24, 2016;  84 FR 71327 , Dec. 27, 2019]