AT&T and former subsidiary Southern New England Telephone (SNET) have agreed to pay $10.9 million to resolve an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Enforcement Bureau regarding overbilling of the FCC’s Lifeline program. An FCC investigation showed that AT&T and its affiliates continued to provide service to landline customers in the program without recertifying the eligibility of the customers within the 35 days required by Lifeline program rules. As a result of these failures, the companies overbilled the Lifeline program when they requested reimbursement for participating in the program. The $10.9 million in penalties resulting from the settlement are in addition to the refund payments that the companies have previously made to fully reimburse the Lifeline program for ineligible customers. The AT&T and SNET consent decrees are available on the FCC’s website.
