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Dayton
Daily News...
FCC
urges state officials, others to
address phone fraud
States asked to be more aggressive in
policing the free phone program.
December 19, 2011
The
Federal Communications Commission
this week urged officials in Ohio and other states to start taking a
stronger
role in addressing fraud in a federal program that provides free
cellphones and
discounted land lines to low-income households.
This
follows an enforcement advisory
last week saying the agency recently learned that certain phone
companies were
in violation of requirements that they make sure someone doesn’t
already
receive the service before enrolling them for another line.
The
Dayton Daily News reported last
month that the FCC had identified 26,500 people in Ohio — and 269,000
people in
12 states — suspected of abusing the program, called Lifeline, by
having more
than one line.
Other
efforts being taken nationwide
to address suspected misuse of the program include a $1.5 million
settlement
reached in February with an Alaskan company suspected of getting paid
for
signing up ineligible subscribers. Wisconsin officials ended subsidies
this
month to a company under suspicion of fraud there.
“Fraud
or abuse in the Lifeline
program is simply unacceptable, and we are moving aggressively to
identify and
stop bad actors,” said FCC Spokesman Mark Wigfield.
The
FCC urges utilities commissions to
“join the FCC in our efforts to reform the Lifeline program by closely
scrutinizing the requests for (a) designation pending before you, to be
on
guard for abuse by (companies) designated to provide Lifeline service
in your
states, and to take swift action when necessary to protect the program.”
The
program pays up to $10 a month to
phone companies that provide free or discounted cellphone or land-line
service
to people who qualify for other federal programs, such as food stamps
or
Medicaid. It is paid for by a Universal Service fee tacked onto most
consumers’
phone bills.
Four
prepaid cellphone companies offer
the service in Ohio; four more companies are awaiting approval from the
Ohio
Public Utilities Commission. There are nearly 600,000 participants in
the
program in Ohio, the Daily News found, and the program last year cost
$58.9
million. Federal regulators say this growth is driven by the prepaid
services.
The
FCC also is considering setting a
cap in how costly the program could become, creating a national
database of
users and cutting off service to users whose phones go unused for
months. This
process is nearing completion, officials said.
Read
this and other articles at the
Dayton Daily News
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/fcc-urges-state-officials-others-to-address-phone-fraud-1299352.html
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