Today, the National Lifeline Association (NaLA) announced reaching a new milestone with the 2,000th Lifeline Agent receiving Lifeline compliance training and certification. The NaLA Agent Certification Program was created and launched by the National Lifeline Association in late April 2018. It provides Lifeline Eligible Telecommunications Carriers (ETCs) with assurance that independent sales agents have been trained, tested, and certified in the rules and regulations of both Federal and State Lifeline programs.

The NaLA Agent Certification program also requires certified agents to retrain, retest, and recertify every 90 days. This ensures that agents regularly maintain knowledge of Lifeline, while also allowing NaLA to quickly disseminate, train, and test agents’ understanding of regulatory and compliance changes.

The NaLA Agent Certification Program provides independent sales agents with critical program information they need to be successful in the communities they serve and fully compliant with the rules and regulations of the State and Federal Lifeline programs. This program was outlined as an important 2018 initiative by the NaLA Board of Directors at the 2017 NaLA Annual Conference held in New Orleans, LA.

“We are especially excited to celebrate this impressive milestone only three months after launching this program,” said David B. Dorwart, Chairman of the National Lifeline Association. “The NaLA Agent Certification Program is critical to the advancement of the Lifeline program. It creates a national standard for agent training and assists ETCs in self-regulating field compliance.”

NaLA’s Agent Certification Program was created by some of the most respected compliance executives in the wireless Lifeline industry. NaLA’s vision is to help ETCs deploy well-trained, compliant, and informed field sales representatives to communities and help consumers who are in need of Lifeline program benefits. Most NaLA ETC members have voluntarily committed to require this certification process for all of their field sales agents as part of a larger commitment to thorough agent training and continuous self-regulation.

Regarding the Agent Certification Program, Kim Lehrman, President of enTouch Wireless and a NaLA Board Member, stated, “Adding an additional layer of certification to internal training programs for ETCs is exciting for our industry. The better agents are educated about Lifeline program fundamentals (i.e. consumer application and recertification) and regulatory compliance information, the more succinctly they can communicate how the program works to our prospects and consumers — ensuring a better consumer experience.”

About The National Lifeline Association:

The National Lifeline Association is a non-profit organization that provides a foundation of support for Lifeline participants, service providers, distributors, government and regulatory bodies, and other advocates of Lifeline.

NaLA members are passionate about supporting their vision, “In America, every person should have access to essential communication services.” With their leadership and direction, NaLA provides and promotes Lifeline education, collaboration, and advocacy across the U.S.