On March 31, 2015, the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau released two documents important to Lifeline providers. The first is an Order and rule amendments to clarify that if an ETC assesses a monthly fee to subscribers in order to avoid the Lifeline usage requirements, then that ETC must also collect the monthly fee. ETCs that do not assess any monthly fees must continue to de-enroll inactive subscribers who fail to use the service within any consecutive 60-day period. (No change there.)

Also a Public Notice was issued which provides guidance to ETCs on the process to elect USAC to perform Lifeline recertification.