FCC Staff Grant Limited ACP Waivers, Deny 'All Plans' Rule Extension
The FCC Wireline Bureau granted limited waivers of the affordable connectivity program's non-usage rules and a requirement that participating providers apply the monthly benefit to all plans, said an order Friday in docket 21-450. The bureau denied several requests to extend the “all plans requirement” to all participating providers. Providers were required to comply with these rules by Friday (see 2202110055).
The bureau granted USTelecom’s request for an additional 60 days to comply with the program’s rule requiring providers that don’t collect monthly fees from customers with fully subsidized plans to notify these consumers after 30 consecutive days of non-usage that they would be de-enrolled after a 15-day cure period. Industry largely backed more time to implement systems changes to comply (see 2204010047).
“[W]e remind participating providers that during the waiver period they must continue to comply with the non-usage rules that were in place for the emergency broadband benefit program,” the order said. The waiver expires June 14. USTelecom is "pleased that the commission granted our request for a reasonable amount of additional time to implement them," said Vice President-Strategic Initiatives & Partnerships Lynn Follansbee, adding the non-usage rules "are a technical challenge to implement."
The bureau denied the Competitive Carriers Association’s request to extend the deadline for participating providers to ensure the monthly benefit can be applied to all available plans. NCTA was the only group to file comments in support of the request (see 2204110049). “Providers were aware of this requirement for months,” the bureau said, adding CCA’s request “is overbroad and fails to demonstrate good cause.”
Several consumer groups opposed the waiver and sought specific conditions on any provider that received a waiver (see 2204060075). The bureau agreed with the groups that CCA was “seeking an extension of one of the more important improvements to the ACP” and a “blanket, program-wide waiver, even for a limited 60-day period, is not justified.” CCA declined to comment.
Despite declining to grant all providers an extension, the bureau gave Verizon and AT&T limited waivers to apply the benefit to certain plans. It granted Verizon’s request for an additional 60 days to apply the benefits to prepaid mobile broadband plans priced below $30 and above $30 (see 2203220051). The bureau noted Verizon’s request was “narrowly tailored” to certain plans that needed additional time for system development and the ISP still had plans priced at $30 that would be fully covered by the benefit. The National Lifeline Association backed the request.
The bureau limited AT&T’s waiver for its postpaid mobile broadband plans to 60 days after the ISP sought a 120-day extension (see 2203290046). The ISP sought the extension because it didn’t include this plan in its EBB offerings and needed to “manually calculate” the benefit “on possibly thousands” of consumers’ legacy or grandfathered bills. It also denied AT&T’s request to extend the all-plans requirement by 120 days.
AT&T customers "can apply the benefit to our internet and prepaid wireless plans with data,” emailed a spokesperson, saying hundreds of thousands of consumers have enrolled in prepaid wireless plans with data and “includes those households that transitioned from the EBB program.” AT&T is “currently modifying our systems that support postpaid mobility plans with data so more customers can receive the ACP benefit and requested additional time to comply with the program’s requirement to apply the benefit to all plans,” she said.