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Program for low-income Tennesseans raises concerns

By: Jacqueline Koch
(Contact)

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John Stuermer

Fran Zimmermann wonders why she must use her Social Security dollars to pay for a cell phone when other Tennessee residents can get them for free.

The Chattanooga woman thinks SafeLink Wireless, which provides free cell phones and airtime minutes for low-income residents in the state, puts cell phones in the hands of the wrong people.

“You give out free telephones to families that you have no background on,” she said. “How do you know they’re not going to pass that on to some of their friends that are selling drugs?”

TracFone Wireless Inc., the nation’s largest prepaid cell phone provider, began rolling out free cell phones in Tennessee more than a month ago, but local emergency communication officials and Chattanooga residents such as Ms. Zimmermann continue to express concern about the program.

Local emergency communication officials continue to wonder who, if anyone, will pay for 911 services if the phones are given at no cost to consumers. They worry that more cell phones would create more 911 calls without the ability to pay for additional help to field those calls.

SafeLink Wireless is part of the Tennessee Lifeline Assistance Program, which reduces local service charges for one phone line in a household. The difference in cost is subsidized with a $10 payment from the federal government. The program offers households 68 free minutes each month for a year, but residents can reapply for the program or purchase additional minutes should they use more than 68 in a month, officials said.

TracFone approached the Federal Communications Commission about offering cell phones as a component of the Lifeline program and agreed to absorb any additional cost over the government subsidy, said Jose Fuentes, director of government relations for TracFone.

“We’ve seen a tremendous shift in which land lines are not the No. 1 choice for households,” he said. “With that in mind, we came in and we proposed this idea to the FCC.”

The Lifeline program was around before TracFone offered cell phones and always has been government subsidized, he said.

Mr. Fuentes said low-income households benefit from having a cell phone because it can increase their job prospects.

“If you’re not at home, your phone’s ringing, you don’t know,” Mr. Fuentes said. “There’s no way of getting in contact. It’s even more critical that they have some access like everyone else does.”

Citing confidentiality, Mr. Fuentes would not release information about how much it costs the company to supply the phones and airtime minutes or the number of Tennesseans enrolled in the program. More than 55,000 Chattanooga residents are expected to receive cell phones as part of the program, according to SafeLink.

With so many new customers on the system, local emergency officials have asked who will pay for the additional usage of the 911 system. In Tennessee, most cell phone users pay a $1 surcharge per phone per month to help pay for 911 services.

Prepaid carriers operate differently and have two ways to calculate the fee. The provider can collect a monthly service charge from each active prepaid customer or it can divide the total prepaid revenue received within the monthly 911 period by $50 and multiply that by the service charge amount, according to Tennessee code.

TracFone will use the latter payment method, Mr. Fuentes said.

But local 911 officials said they were unaware that anyone would pay the fee, said John Stuermer, executive director of the Hamilton County Emergency Communications District. Mr. Stuermer said he thought the Tennessee Department of Safety, which helped launch the program, had waived the fee.

But the safety department only was involved in the initial stages of the program and does not help administer it, spokesman Mike Browning said.

Mr. Stuermer said he was told that the fee would be paid only if customers purchased more minutes over the 68-per-month usage allowed under the SafeLink program.

“We’re not getting straight answers. When you get straight answers, then you can address the issue more clearly,” Mr. Stuermer said. “And that’s very frustrating to us and disconcerting.”

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