§  54.405   Carrier obligation to offer Lifeline.

   All eligible telecommunications carriers must:

   (a) Make available Lifeline service, as defined in §  54.401, to
   qualifying low-income consumers.

   (b) Publicize the availability of Lifeline service in a manner
   reasonably designed to reach those likely to qualify for the service.

   (c) Indicate on all materials describing the service, using easily
   understood language, that it is a Lifeline service, that Lifeline is a
   government assistance program, the service is non-transferable, only
   eligible consumers may enroll in the program, and the program is
   limited to one discount per household. For the purposes of this
   section, the term “materials describing the service” includes all
   print, audio, video, and web materials used to describe or enroll in
   the Lifeline service offering, including application and certification
   forms.

   (d) Disclose the name of the eligible telecommunications carrier on all
   materials describing the service.

   (e) De-enrollment —(1) De-enrollment generally. If an eligible
   telecommunications carrier has a reasonable basis to believe that a
   Lifeline subscriber no longer meets the criteria to be considered a
   qualifying low-income consumer under §  54.409, the carrier must notify
   the subscriber of impending termination of his or her Lifeline service.
   Notification of impending termination must be sent in writing separate
   from the subscriber's monthly bill, if one is provided, and must be
   written in clear, easily understood language. A carrier providing
   Lifeline service in a state that has dispute resolution procedures
   applicable to Lifeline termination, that requires, at a minimum,
   written notification of impending termination, must comply with the
   applicable state requirements. The carrier must allow a subscriber
   30-days following the date of the impending termination letter required
   to demonstrate continued eligibility. A subscriber making such a
   demonstration must present proof of continued eligibility to the
   carrier consistent with applicable annual re-certification
   requirements, as described in §  54.410(f). An eligible
   telecommunications carrier must terminate any subscriber who fails to
   demonstrate continued eligibility within the 30-day time period. A
   carrier providing Lifeline service in a state that has dispute
   resolution procedures applicable to Lifeline termination must comply
   with the applicable state requirements.

   (2) De-enrollment for duplicative support. Notwithstanding paragraph
   (e)(1) of this section, upon notification by the Administrator to any
   eligible telecommunications carrier that a subscriber is receiving
   Lifeline service from another eligible telecommunications carrier or
   that more than one member of a subscriber's household is receiving
   Lifeline service and therefore that the subscriber should be
   de-enrolled from participation in that carrier's Lifeline program, the
   eligible telecommunications carrier must de-enroll the subscriber from
   participation in that carrier's Lifeline program within five business
   days. An eligible telecommunications carrier shall not be eligible for
   Lifeline reimbursement for any de-enrolled subscriber following the
   date of that subscriber's de-enrollment.

   (3) De-enrollment for non-usage. Notwithstanding paragraph (e)(1) of
   this section, if a Lifeline subscriber fails to use, as “usage” is
   defined in §  54.407(c)(2), for 60 consecutive days a Lifeline service
   that does not require the eligible telecommunications carrier to assess
   or collect a monthly fee from its subscribers, an eligible
   telecommunications carrier must provide the subscriber 30 days' notice,
   using clear, easily understood language, that the subscriber's failure
   to use the Lifeline service within the 30-day notice period will result
   in service termination for non-usage under this paragraph. If the
   subscriber uses the Lifeline service within 30 days of the carrier
   providing such notice, the eligible telecommunications carrier shall
   not terminate the subscriber's Lifeline service. Eligible
   telecommunications carriers shall report to the Commission annually the
   number of subscribers de-enrolled for non-usage under this paragraph.
   This de-enrollment information must be reported by month and must be
   submitted to the Commission at the time an eligible telecommunications
   carrier submits its annual certification report pursuant to §  54.416.

   (4) De-enrollment for failure to re-certify. Notwithstanding paragraph
   (e)(1) of this section, an eligible telecommunications carrier must
   de-enroll a Lifeline subscriber who does not respond to the carrier's
   attempts to obtain re-certification of the subscriber's continued
   eligibility as required by §  54.410(f); who fails to provide the annual
   one-per-household re-certifications as required by §  54.410(f); or who
   relies on a temporary address and fails to respond to the carrier's
   address re-certification attempts pursuant to §  54.410(g). Prior to
   de-enrolling a subscriber under this paragraph, the eligible
   telecommunications carrier must notify the subscriber in writing
   separate from the subscriber's monthly bill, if one is provided using
   clear, easily understood language, that failure to respond to the
   re-certification request within 30 days of the date of the request will
   trigger de-enrollment. If a subscriber does not respond to the
   carrier's notice of impending de-enrollment, the carrier must de-enroll
   the subscriber from Lifeline within five business days after the
   expiration of the subscriber's time to respond to the re-certification
   efforts.

   [ 77 FR 12969 , Mar. 2, 2012]

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