Lifeline Program

2022 NaLA Annual Conference Presentations

About the 2022 NaLA Annual Conference Talks & Panels The 2022 NaLA Annual Conference presentations are now available online for NaLA Members. Each conference day included  NaLA Talks and Panel Sessions, where attendees heard from more than a dozen speakers and panelists who provided insight into compelling discussion topics, such as regulatory and government updates,…

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Minimum Service Standard Proposal by FCC Threatens Low Income Access to Wireless Connectivity

FCC Releases Statement on Plans for December 2020 Minimum Service Standard Increase Last week, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai released a statement regarding changes to minimum service standards within the Lifeline program. “Starting Dec. 1, Lifeline’s mobile carriers will have to offer 4.5 GB of data each month, up from 3 GB,” Chairman Pai…

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FCC Must Act Now to Prevent Disruption in Lifeline Service for Millions of Low-Income Americans and Hundreds of Thousands of Veterans

KENNETT SQUARE, PA. (PRWEB) OCTOBER 1, 2020 Members of the National Lifeline Association (NaLA) urge the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to prevent the disruption of essential Lifeline-supported service for low-income Americans, particularly low-income veterans. Unless the FCC acts now to prevent untenable increases in mobile broadband service levels without any increase in support amounts, most…

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2019 NaLA Annual Conference Presentations

About the 2019 NaLA Annual Conference Talks The 2019 NaLA Annual Conference presentations are now available online for NaLA Members. Each conference day included  NaLA Talks and Panel Sessions, where attendees heard from more than a dozen speakers and panelists who provided insight into compelling discussion topics, such as regulatory and government updates, California LifeLine,…

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TracFone Files Second Emergency Petition on National Verifier

November 30, 2018 – TracFone Wireless filed an emergency petition on the National Verifier, urging the FCC to direct the USAC to implement fifteen specific modifications of the National Verifier and its associated processes. This petition follows an earlier filing from TracFone in August 2108, which raised many similar concerns about aspects of the (then…

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Lifeline Minimum Service Standards Increase Effective December 1, 2018

December 1, 2018 – New Lifeline minimum service standards are in effect today, as stated in the FCC’s 2016 Lifeline Modernization Order. The Order (FCC 16-38) aimed to modernize Lifeline to support broadband and establish an automatic update to the Lifeline minimum service standard for mobile voice service through November 30, 2018. Newly Effective Lifeline…

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NaLA Supports Q Link Waiver Petition Urging FCC to Accept Submissions for Lifeline Eligibility Pending Fully Functional API

Comments Filed November 23 in Support of Q Link National Verifier Waiver Request Following the November 1 petition by Q Link Wireless, LLC, the National Lifeline Association (NaLA) filed comments supporting the Q Link Waiver Petition, which requests Lifeline eligibility submissions to the National Verifier. Q Link Waiver Petition to FCC on National Verifier Q…

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1.3 Million Veterans Lifeline Service Could be Affected by FCC Proposed Changes

The Washington Times published an op-ed regarding how Veterans Lifeline service could be affected by FCC-proposed changes. Lifeline service is offered through the Lifeline Program, which connects low-income Americans to affordable telephony and broadband services for the purposes of health care, education and employment.  The op-ed echoes TracFone, Sprint, AARP and other groups who have stood…

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NaLA’s 2017 FCC Proposal Appeal Lands in DC for Oral Argument

On October 25, 2018, oral argument was held before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in the National Lifeline Association’s appeal of the FCC’s December 2017 proposal to ban resellers from the Tribal Lifeline program and to limit the program to rural areas. NaLA’s Case for Appealing the 2017 FCC…

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NaLA Comments on FCC Connected Care Pilot Program Notice of Inquiry

The National Lifeline Association (NaLA) filed a response to a recent Notice of Inquiry (NOI) regarding the Connected Care Pilot Program, a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) telehealth program that seeks to assist low-income Americans. FCC Promoting Telehealth for Low-Income Consumers The Connected Care Pilot Program is part of an FCC telehealth initiative and would seek…

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