Parts of the FCC’s January Lifeline reform order impose costs...
Parts of the FCC’s January Lifeline reform order impose costs that violate the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), CTIA said in a filing at the Office of Management and Budget. Comments were due Friday on the costs of the requirements relative…
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to the PRA. CTIA objected to a rule requiring verification of Lifeline customers’ temporary addresses every three months, the biennial outside audit requirement for larger Lifeline recipients, and extensive disclosures required for all Lifeline marketing materials, regardless of medium. “Many of the new rules in the Order will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Lifeline program, and CTIA strongly supports them,” CTIA said (http://xrl.us/bm2xt4). “However, certain discrete new rules are both unreasonably burdensome and unlikely to achieve the Commission’s goals.” As one example, CTIA said the FCC significantly underestimates the cost of complying with the outside auditing requirement for carriers that receive $5 million or more annually in Lifeline support. “The Commission’s estimate is based on 25 hours per audit at $40 per hour,” the group said. “By comparison, ... 2010 data suggests that financial audits of public companies require over 12,500 hours, and private companies over 3,000 hours, and auditors’ fees range from $185 to $218 per hour."