Source: https://www.fcc.gov/document/95m-penalty-proposed-against-cintex-wireless-lifeline-violations?contrast=highContrast
Timestamp: 2015-07-01 06:05:18
Document Index: 283628036

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

$9.5M Penalty Proposed Against Cintex Wireless for Lifeline Violations | FCC.gov
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$9.5M Penalty Proposed Against Cintex Wireless for Lifeline Violations
FCC Proposes Nearly $44 Million in Fines Against 3 Lifeline Providers	Download Options
Word DocumentPDF DocumentText Document	Released: December 11, 2013
FCC 13-156
File No.: EB-IHD-13-000106711
Cintex Wireless, LLC
NAL/Acct. No.: 201432080014
FRN: 0020964524
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 Cintex Wireless, LLC (Cintex Wireless) apparently willfully and repeatedly violated Sections 54.407, 54.409, and 54.410 of the Commission’s rules2 by requesting and/or receiving support from the Lifeline program of the Universal Service Fund (USF or Fund) for ineligible subscriber lines for the months of June through August 2012, December 2012, and February through April 2013. Based on our review of the facts and circumstances surrounding these apparent violations, we propose a monetary forfeiture in the amount of nine million, four hundred sixty-one thousand, nine hundred seventy-eight dollars ($9,461,978). 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.3 Lifeline service is provided by Eligible Telecommunications Carriers (ETCs) designated pursuant to the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (Act).4 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.5 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 1 This investigation, initiated under file no. EB-13-IH-0201, was subsequently assigned to file no. EB-IHD-13-00010671.2 47 C.F.R. §§ 54.407, 54.409, 54.410.3 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. §§ 54.400–54.422.4 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).5 47 C.F.R. § 54.403(a).
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.”14 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”).15 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
6 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 group of individuals who are living together at the same address as one economic unit”); Lifeline Reform Order, 27 FCC Rcd at 6760, para. 241 (noting that the costs of wireless handsets are not supported by the Lifeline program).7 See 47 C.F.R. § 54.403(a). Tribal lands include