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Lifeline Providers, Tribal Groups Ask FCC to Stay Tribal Lifeline Restrictions

Lifeline providers and tribal groups asked the FCC to stay 2017 tribal Lifeline changes, pending judicial review of their legal challenges to an order released Dec. 1 (see 1711160021 and 1712010042). The commission order "unlawfully (1) limits the types of…

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eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) eligible to receive enhanced Tribal Lifeline support and (2) narrows the geographic scope of Tribal lands in which individuals are eligible for the Tribal Lifeline benefit," said Assist Wireless, Boomerang Wireless, Easy Wireless, the National Lifeline Association, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe and Oceti Sakowin Tribal Utility Authority in a petition Friday in docket 17-287. They said the order is scheduled to take effect 90 days after the Wireline Bureau issues a public notice announcing approval of information collection requirements under the Paperwork Reduction Act. A stay's "limited relief is necessary to prevent irreparable harm to ETCs and consumers, including Tribal communities," they said in their FCC request. "Petitioners are likely to succeed on the merits of their claims before the D.C. Circuit; they will suffer irreparable harm absent a stay; and the balance of harms and public interests weigh in favor of a stay." The FCC declined comment Monday. Meanwhile, TracFone Wireless pushed its proposals for an NPRM released with the order, including for a “conduct-based standard” to "root out waste, fraud, and abuse" in Lifeline. "Rather than excluding Lifeline resellers from the program ... the Commission should instead focus on the actual conduct of Lifeline carriers and target those that have performed poorly under the various audit and evaluation mechanisms intended to safeguard the Lifeline program," said a filing posted Friday on a meeting with Wireline Bureau officials. TracFone is "pleased that the soft launch of the National Verifier had finally commenced" last week (see 1806180054), but "remains concerned about the lack of any application programming interface (API) for the National Verifier that would enable carriers and its social services and health care partners to assist consumers with navigating" eligibility and verification processes.