New - Filing requirements for Eligible Telecommunications Carriers (ETCs) providing Lifeline service

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1. Annual Filing Requirement – Deadline March 1

   By March 1 of each year, each ETC shall submit to the Department, in machine-readable format, the following from the previous calendar year:

   1. the number of subscribers enrolled within the ETC’s approved territory, by month, for the Lifeline Program;
   2. the number of subscribers de-enrolled within the ETC’s approved territory, by month, for the Lifeline Program; and
   3. a report of the number of complaints received by the ETC from subscribers related to the Lifeline program per 1,000 Lifeline subscribers in Massachusetts and the number of such complaints not resolved within 45 calendar days.

2. Changes that require prior notice to the Department and Subscribers

   • Each “wireless ETC” (see Massachusetts Lifeline Requirements for more information) shall notify its Lifeline subscribers and the Department of any material change to the terms or conditions of the ETC’s Lifeline service in Massachusetts at least 10 calendar days prior to the implementation of the change.
   • Each “wireless ETC” (see Massachusetts Lifeline Requirements for more information) shall notify its Lifeline subscribers and the Department of any rate change to the ETC’s Lifeline service in Massachusetts at least 30 calendar days prior to the implementation of the change.

3. Events or actions that require notice to the Department after the occurrence

   • Each ETC shall notify the Department of the following events within 30 calendar days of the event’s occurrence:
   • its ETC designation or the ETC designation of any of the ETC’s affiliates has been suspended, revoked, relinquished, or in any way withdrawn or removed in any jurisdiction;
   • its petition for ETC designation, or that of one of its affiliates, has been denied, withdrawn with or without prejudice, deferred, relinquished, mooted, or in any way removed from consideration within 30 calendar days of the removal in any jurisdiction;
   • the FCC, any state utility commission, or USAC has opened an investigation into the ETC and the final resolution of said investigation;
   • the final resolution of a court proceeding against the ETC, either civil or criminal, resulting in findings of wrongdoing or settlement, such as an injunction, settlement, consent decree, money judgment, criminal conviction, or plea agreement;
   • any change(s) to a mobile virtual network operator’s underlying carrier, where applicable; and
   • any change(s) to a non-facilities based carrier’s Lifeline compliance plan filed with the FCC.
   • An ETC that applies to the FCC for transfer of control regarding its corporate ownership structure shall notify the Department within 5 business days of application. The ETC shall maintain its ETC status in Massachusetts under its prior designation, unless otherwise ordered by the Department.
   • Each ETC that enters into an insolvency, receivership, or bankruptcy proceeding or that becomes aware that one of its ETC Contractors has entered into an insolvency, receivership, or bankruptcy proceeding shall notify the Department within 5 business days of (1) entering into such proceeding or (2) becoming aware of such proceeding by an ETC Contractor; however, each ETC anticipating entering into such proceeding or anticipating that an ETC Contractor will enter into such proceeding is, as feasible, requested to provide advance notice to the Department.

4. Consumer safeguards

   • Each ETC shall:
     • work in good faith with Department staff to resolve Lifeline subscriber disputes which are referred to the ETC by the Department within a reasonable time;
     • ensure that a Lifeline subscriber’s texting limit, if any, is not impacted by messages sent from the ETC to such subscriber;
     • provide a written termination of service notice to its Lifeline subscribers prior to terminating service;
     • include in an easily accessible location on the ETC’s website a link to its privacy policy;
     • include clear, easily understood language about the availability of the Department’s Consumer Division for handling Lifeline complaints in an easily accessible location on the ETC’s website and in its Lifeline Terms and Conditions of Service; and
     • include on any start of service notice or termination of service notice to its Lifeline subscribers (i) the Department’s Consumer Division contact information and (ii) a message provided in multiple languages, as specified by the Department, recommending that such notice be translated.

   **As described in Massachusetts Lifeline Requirements rule B(1)(f)(ii), the following message must be included on any start of service notice or termination of service notice to an ETC’s Lifeline subscriber: