The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) granted in part and denied in part 10 waiver requests filed by United States Telecom Association (USTelecom) and various states and territories pertaining to the FCC’s 2016 Lifeline Modernization Order and Lifeline eligibility rules and port freeze rules that take effect on December 2, 2016. The Bureau partially granted a waiver of the effective dates of Sections 54.400(j) and 54.409(a) to the extent that providers in eight states (California, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin) may continue to enroll customers who qualify for Lifeline through certain programs that were removed from those rule sections in the 2016 Lifeline Modernization Order. The Bureau also granted the petitions of California and Oregon to temporarily waive the effective date of the Commission’s port freeze rules as set forth in Section 54.411. Waivers requested by USTelecom and the remaining states and territories were denied.
