Reforming, Modernizing Lifeline, LinkUp

As the Federal Communications Commission considers updating the Lifeline and LinkUp -- two programs that make it easier for low income consumers to afford telecommunications services -- a number of groups are visiting with FCC Commissioners and staff to discuss the how best to improve the programs.

Community Voice mail and the National Consumer law Center recently reiterated that:

• The one-phone-per-address issue bars otherwise eligible people from receiving Lifeline and LinkUp services, especially those who are homeless and/or temporarily housed.
• This is a significant population and arguably one that Lifeline policy would benefit most. According to the recently released 2010 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress 1.59M people experienced homelessness during the 2010 fiscal year.

The groups offered alternate models for eligibility, including use of collateral contacts (agency service providers) to verify identification.
They also discussed the issue of creating a national database to determine duplication of services raising concerns that:

• Numerous policy issues need to be clarified as part of the design process including timelines, notification, consumer education, portability of Lifeline status, and a dispute resolution process.
• Those issues should be resolved by a sufficiently diverse group of stakeholders in order to avoid unintended barriers to enrollment by eligible persons.

The Public Utility Commission of Texas has also spoken with FCC staff about:

• the matching and automatic enrollment processes in Texas for the Lifeline and Link Up program;
• specific state statues that require certificated providers to provide Lifeline service to its customers;
• costs of the matching and enrollment processes used in Texas; and
• implementation of the screening process by Solix, the Texas Low Income Discount Administrator, to eliminate duplicate Lifeline subscriptions for the same customer.

Finally, the American Public Communications Council has been arguing that the FCC use Lifeline support to subsidize public payphones which have been rapidly disappearing.