Is Your Company Listed on USAC's Consumer Website www.lifelinesupport.org?

More than 800 ETCs have used the online Lifeline Support ETC Posting Tool to create a company page with outreach information for low-income consumers concerning the availability of Lifeline and Link Up on www.lifelinesupport.org.  This website is designed to assist low-income consumers in their search for telephone service.  The tool includes links to each company's home website, downloadable applications, and a customer service number which allows consumers to find important information easily and quickly.  Please use the following link to submit your company's data:

Online Tool: E-mail your SPIN and SAC combination to USAC to receive login information.

Instructions: PowerPoint Presentation

The online tool will allow you to make updates to your company's page at any time without having to reenter the same data.  Please let USAC know if you have any questions or comments via E-mail.

2007 Verification Follow-Up Submissions are Due October 31st

All ETCs in federal default states (AS, DE, HI, IA, IN, LA, MP, NH) that reported “No Response to Survey” for some Lifeline customers should submit updated verification results to USAC by October 31st.  If no response was received to the verification survey, customers under the “No Response to Survey” column should be moved to the “Found to be Ineligible” column.  ETCs should submit a letter of impending termination to customers who failed to respond to the survey and should terminate from the Lifeline program those customers that fail to demonstrate continued eligibility after 60 days. 

ETCs that did not report any customers under the “No Response to Survey” column do not need to submit updated verification results.

Please see the FCC's Public Notice for more information.  The FCC has established August 31st as the permanent deadline for submitting annual verification results and certifications, and October 31st as the permanent deadline for submitting updated verification results.  ETCs should use the following sample letters when submitting data to USAC.

• Verification Sample Letter

Please submit verification results, follow ups, or certifications to USAC using only ONE of the following methods:

Fax: 

Attention: Low Income Program
(202) 776-0080

E-mail:

Submit scanned Adobe versions with signatures to LiVerifications@usac.org

Mail:

USAC - Low Income Program
2000 L Street, NW, Suite 200
Washington, D.C.  20036

You can check to see whether USAC has received your submission by visiting USAC's Verification submissions page.  This page is updated every Thursday.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued a Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) against VCI Company (08/16/07)

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued a Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) against VCI Company in the amount of $1,047,500.  The NAL asserts that VCI Company failed to provide the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) with accurate records of the revenues it forgoes in providing Low Income support; and that VCI Company willfully sought duplicate recovery for Lifeline, Link Up and TLS customers on a repeated basis. 

VCI COMPANY.   Notified VCI Company of its Apparent Liability for Forfeiture in the amount of $1,047,500 for failure to keep and provide records of revenues. by Order. Action by:  the Commission. Adopted:
08/14/2007 by NALF. (FCC No. 07-148).  EB

• FCC-07-148A1.doc
• FCC-07-148A1.pdf
• FCC-07-148A1.txt

Check here to see if USAC received your 2007 Lifeline Verification or Low Income Certification

ETCs submitting 2007 Lifeline verification survey results (federal default states) or 2007 Low Income certifications (all non-federal default states) can check here weekly to see if USAC has received and processed their submissions.  Both verifications and certifications must be signed by an officer of the ETC.  Check the Low Income Calendar for deadlines.

• 2007 Verification [XLS, 1.1MB]
• 2007 Certification [XLS, 1.1MB]

Deadline for Filing Lifeline Certifications and Verification Results is August 31

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a Public Notice today announcing the 2007 deadline for filing Lifeline certifications and verification results.  An ETC in a state with its own state-based Low Income program must submit a certification, signed by an officer of the company to USAC by August 31, 2007, attesting that the ETC has complied with the state verification procedures.  All ETCs in federal default states must submit their annual Lifeline verification survey results to USAC by August 31, 2007.

If an ETC in a federal default state does not receive replies from all of its sample recipients, the ETC should note the number of outstanding replies on its submission separate from those found to be ineligible and update the verification results upon completing the survey.  Updates must be submitted to USAC by October 31, 2007.  ETCs need only submit one update.
The FCC has also established August 31 as the permanent deadline for submitting annual certifications and verification results, and October 31 as the permanent deadline for submitting updated verification results. 

Please see the FCC's Public Notice for more information.

ETCs should use the following sample letters when submitting data to USAC.

• Verification Sample Letter
• Certification Sample Letter

Please submit certifications, verification results and updates to USAC by one of the following methods:

Fax: 
Attention: Low Income Programs
(202) 776-0080

E-mail:
Submit scanned Adobe versions with signatures to LiVerifications@usac.org

Mail:
USAC
Low Income Programs
2000 L Street, NW
Suite 200
Washington, D.C.  20036

Tier 1 Rate is Equal to the Tariffed EUCL for the Incumbent ETC

In accordance with 47 C.F.R. 54.403(a)(1), competitive ETCs must claim Tier 1 support in the amount equal to that of the End User Common Line Charge (EUCL) of the incumbent local exchange carrier serving the area in which the qualifying low-income consumer resides. Competitive ETCs should verify the current EUCL with the incumbent local exchange carrier or their state utility commission on a regular basis.

Lifeline Program Participation Rate Data

Each year, USAC staff completes a study of participation rates in the Lifeline program in each state. The study uses United States Census data to determine the number of households in the United States. The study compares the eligibility criteria used by each state against government and other publicly available data to determine the number of households eligible under each program. In addition, because many states, including those that use the federal default criteria, include income as a criterion, the study uses the Poverty Guidelines to determine the number of households eligible based on income in these states. The study relies on data published for Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Food Stamps to calculate an average number (58%) of households that are receiving assistance through more than one program. This amount was subtracted from the total number of eligible households in states that included multiple programs in their eligibility criteria. The study then compares the number of eligible households in each state against USAC's data on Lifeline participation to calculate an estimated participation rate for each state.

2006 Lifeline Participation Rate Data

• 2006 Participation Rates by State
  This map shows the Lifeline participation rates by state for 2006. Eligibility criteria differ by state and sometimes by individual telephone company.
• 2006 ETC with the Most Lifeline Subscribers by State
  This map shows the eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC) that serves the most Lifeline subscribers in each state. ETCs with multiply study area codes have been combined within each state.

2005 Lifeline Participation Rate Data

• 2005 Participation Rates by State
• 2005 ETC with the Most Lifeline Subscribers by State
  

2007 Lifeline Verification and Certification Deadline not yet Established by the FCC

The Federal Communications Commission has not yet established the 2007 deadline for eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) to submit their Lifeline certifications and verification results.  Once the deadline is established, USAC will post a notice and sample verification and certification letters on its web site.  We will also send an e-mail to all ETCs and will note the deadline in a future issue of this newsletter. 

California PUC – Report on Strategies to improve the California Lifeline Certification and Verification Processes

April 2, 2007 – In response to the overwhelming number of California Lifeline recipients who failed to submit their certification or verification forms to the CA Lifeline program (more than 60%), Commissioner Dian M. Grueneich suspended the termination of Lifeline benefits for failure to comply with verification procedures for a period of time no longer than six months.  The entire report is available online. 

For more information contact the California Public Utilities Commission: 505 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA  94102, Phone (415) 703-2782

Deadline Approaching for Carriers Serving Eligible Lifeline Customers Affected by Hurricane Katrina

MARCH 1, 2007 – Consumers must apply for the Link Up benefit of $30.00 to defray the cost of commencing telecommunications service at a temporary residence or reconnecting at a permanent residence by March 1, 2007.

APRIL 13, 2007 – Eligible Telecommunications Carriers (ETCs) must submit Hurricane Katrina Link Up support claims, including revision to earlier submissions no later than April 13, 2007. Claims should be submitted directly to USAC using the Hurricane Katrina Link Up Assistance "Sample Letter."  All submissions should be sent to:

LI - Hurricane Katrina Support
Universal Service Administrative Company
2000 L St. NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20036

or faxed to:

Attn: LI Hurricane Katrina Support
(202) 776-0080

Any questions concerning Hurricane Katrina Link Up support can be sent to USAC via e-mail: TelCoLifeline@usac.org.

ADMINISTRATIVE DEADLINE - ETCs Must File Form 497 for 2005 by March 31, 2007

March 31, 2007 is the last day for submitting revisions to Form 497 (Lifeline and Link Up Worksheet) for 2005.  USAC's administrative window for submitting revisions to Form 497 will close March 31, 2007, for all months prior to January 2006. This applies to submission of data on Form 497, including original (first-time) submissions and revisions of previously submitted data. USAC's administrative window for submitting data for the year 2004 is currently closed.

Because March 31 falls on a Saturday this year, we will accept submissions received on Monday, April 2, 2007.

Please submit FCC Form 497 to USAC via one of the following methods:

E-mail: lifilings@HCLI.universalservice.org

Fax: 866-873-4665

USAC Low Income Program
444 Hoes Lane
Piscataway, NJ 08854

Please contact the Low Income Customer Service Center at 866-873-4727 if you have questions.

California PUC gives consumers more time to recertify for discounted telephone service

Consumers who may have been dropped from program for not recertifying are reenrolled

SAN FRANCISCO, November 9, 2006 -The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) today announced that consumers who were removed from the California Lifeline discounted telephone service program because they did not turn in their recertification forms will be temporarily placed back on California Lifeline.
The California Lifeline program (also known as ULTS) provides discounted telephone service to qualifying low-income consumers. Every year, consumers who are enrolled in the California Lifeline program must recertify that they are eligible to remain on the program. Effective July 1, 2006, the PUC implemented a new process for recertifying the participation of existing California Lifeline participants. This is the first year that recertification is being performed by a third party certifying agent and not the phone companies themselves.

During this transition, it appears from calls received by the PUC's consumer hotline that many consumers were confused about the change in the process. To date, the PUC has seen a very low consumer response to the recertification forms sent out by the third party certifying agent. Under the process, consumers who did not return the forms or failed to return the forms on time were removed from the program.

Because of the confusion over the new recertification process, the Commission has temporarily suspended it for up to six months to allow the Commission time to correct the problem. Consumers who were removed from California Lifeline because they did not turn in their recertification forms or did not return the forms on time will be placed back on California Lifeline service and their bills will be credited accordingly. If consumers would like to verify that they have been reenrolled in the program, they should contact their phone company.

"I am concerned that many members of the vulnerable low-income population served by the California Lifeline program, including the elderly, the disabled, and limited-English speakers will be erroneously deprived of their discounted telephone service because they do not understand the recertification process," said PUC Commissioner Dian M. Grueneich, whose ruling on this issue the Commission ratified today (http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/EFILE/RULINGS/61354.pdf). "Reinstating consumers who may have been dropped from the California Lifeline program due to failure to return the form or for returning the forms late allows us to keep offering the program to consumers while any confusion over the recertification process is worked out."

Approximately 3.5 million customers are enrolled in California Lifeline.

For more information on the PUC or California Lifeline, please visit: www.cpuc.ca.gov, www.californialifeline.com, or www.CalPhoneInfo.com.

Post Your Company on USAC's Consumer Website

USAC has recently created a NEW online Lifeline Support ETC Posting Tool to assist you and your company with outreach to low-income consumers concerning the availability of Lifeline and Link Up on www.lifelinesupport.org.  This website is designed to assist low-income consumers in their search for telephone service.  New features include links to each company's home website, downloadable applications, and a redesigned look to which allows consumers to find important information easily and quickly.  Please use the following link to submit your company's data:

Online Tool: E-mail your SPIN and SAC combination to USAC to receive login information.

Instructions: PowerPoint Presentation

PLEASE NOTE:  If your company posted data on www.lifelinesupport.org prior to the online tool (using the excel worksheet), it was transferred to USAC's archives on January 2, 2007 and will remain there until July 2, 2007, at which time it will be discarded.  USAC encourages all companies to update their www.lifelinesupport.org data using the online tool prior to July 2, 2007 so that your company's page is not discarded. 

The new online tool will allow you to make updates to your company's page at any time without having to reenter the same data.  Please let USAC know if you have any questions or comments via E-mail.