NTCA discusses phasedown of Lifeline support for voice-only customers

In meetings with Federal Communications Commission staff, NTCA discussed an issue identified recently related to the phasedown of Lifeline support for voice-only customers and its interplay with cost recovery under the High-Cost universal service program. Specifically, for many eligible telecommunications carriers (“ETCs”), the reduction of the Lifeline subsidy for such customers to $5.25 per month effective December 1, 2020, precludes recovery of the full amount of the Subscriber Line Charge (“SLC”), and it appears that these shortfalls may be unrecoverable through the High-Cost program. NTCA expressed its desire to work with the FCC to identify further how existing rules affect such recovery and/or to seek possibly a waiver of the Lifeline subsidy phasedown with respect to such voice-only customers of ETCs that impose a SLC.