Source: http://www.fcc.gov/document/87m-penalty-proposed-against-i-wireless-lifeline-violations?fontsize=
Timestamp: 2015-03-04 20:38:56
Document Index: 295000709

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 54', '§ 54', '§ 254', '§ 214', '§ 54', '§ 54', '§ 54']

$8.7M Penalty Proposed Against i-wireless for Lifeline Violations | FCC.gov
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$8.7M Penalty Proposed Against i-wireless for Lifeline Violations
FCC 13-148
File No.: EB-IHD-13-00010656 )
NAL/Acct. No.: 201432080003
FRN: 0016194292
NOTICE OF APPARENT LIABILITY FOR FORFEITURE Adopted: November 1, 2013
In this Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NAL), we continue our commitment to combatting waste, fraud, and abuse in the Lifeline program (Lifeline) by taking action and proposing monetary forfeitures against a company that apparently has ignored our rules and exploited a program dedicated to providing low-income Americans with basic telephone service. Specifically, we find that i-wireless, LLC (i-wireless), apparently willfully and repeatedly violated Sections 54.407, 54.409, and 54.410 of the Commission’s rules1 by requesting and/or receiving support from the Lifeline program of the Universal Service Fund (USF or Fund) for ineligible subscriber lines between the months of October 2012 and April 2013. Based on our review of the facts and circumstances surrounding these apparent violations, we propose a monetary forfeiture in the amount of eight million, seven hundred and fifty-threethousand and seventy-four dollars ($8,753,074). II.
Lifeline Service. Lifeline is part of the USF and helps qualifying consumers have the opportunities and security that phone service brings, including being able to connect to jobs, family members, and emergency services.2 Lifeline service is provided by Eligible Telecommunications Carriers (ETCs) designated pursuant to the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (Act).3 An ETC may seek and receive reimbursement from the USF for revenues it forgoes in providing the discounted services to eligible customers in accordance with the rules.4 Section 54.403(a) of the Commission’s rules specifies that an ETC may receive $9.25 per month for each qualifying low-income consumer receiving Lifeline service,5 and up to an additional $25 per month if the qualifying low-income consumer resides on Tribal lands.6 ETCs are required to pass these discounts along to eligible low-income consumers.7 1 47 C.F.R. §§ 54.407, 54.409, 54.410.2 Lifeline and Link Up Reform and Modernization, Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 27 FCC Rcd 6656, 6662–67, paras. 11–18 (2012) (Lifeline Reform Order); see also 47 C.F.R. §§ 54.400–54.422.3 47 U.S.C. § 254(e) (providing that “only an eligible telecommunications carrier designated under section 214(e) of this title shall be eligible to receive specific Federal universal service support”); 47 U.S.C. § 214(e) (prescribing the method by which carriers are designated as ETCs).4 47 C.F.R. § 54.403(a).5 Lifeline provides a single discounted wireline or wireless phone service to each qualifying low-income consumer’s household. See 47 C.F.R. § 54.401; see also 47 C.F.R. § 54.400(h) (defining “household” as “any individual or (continued….)
The Commission’s Lifeline rules establish explicit requirements that ETCs must meet to receive federal Lifeline support.8 Section 54.407(a) of the rules requires that Lifeline support “shall be provided directly to an eligible telecommunications carrier, based on the number of actual qualifying low-income consumers it serves.”9 Pursuant to Section 54.407(b) of the rules, an ETC may receive Lifeline support only for qualifying low-income consumers.10 A “qualifying low-income consumer” must meet the eligibility criteria set forth in Section 54.409 of the rules, including the requirement that he or she “must not already be receiving a Lifeline service,”11 and must, pursuant to Section 54.410(d) of the rules, certify his/her eligibility to receive Lifeline service.12
Section 54.410(a) of the Commission’s rules requires further that ETCs have procedures in place “to ensure that their Lifeline subscribers are eligible to receive Lifeline services.”13 As explained above, such eligibility requires that a consumer seeking Lifeline service may not already be receivingLifeline service. This obligation therefore requires, among other steps, that an ETC search its own internal records to ensure that the ETC does not provide duplicate Lifeline service to any subscriber (an “intra-company duplicate”).14 5.
The Commission’s rules further prohibit an ETC from seeking reimbursement for providing Lifeline service to a subscriber unless the ETC has confirmed the subscriber’s eligibility to receive Lifeline service.15 In accordance with Section 54.410, before an ETC may seek reimbursement, it must receive a certification of eligibility from the prospective subscriber that demonstrates that the subscriber meets the income-based and program-based eligibility criteria for receiving Lifeline service, (Continued from previous page) group of individuals who are living together at the same address as one economic unit”); Lifeline Reform Order,