The National Lifeline Association Agent Certification Program Reaches New Milestone Of 3,500 Sales Agents Trained and Certified in Lifeline Compliance

KENNETT SQUARE, Pa., Jan. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Today, the National Lifeline Association (NaLA) announced reaching a new milestone as the 3,500th Lifeline Agent received Lifeline compliance training and certification within the first 9 months of the program's launch in April 2018.

The NaLA Agent Certification Program provides Lifeline Eligible Telecommunications Carriers (ETCs) with assurance that independent sales agents have been trained, tested, and certified in the rules and regulations of both Federal and State Lifeline programs. Many ETCs have voluntarily committed to require the use of this certification process for all of their field sales agents as part of a larger commitment to thorough compliance training and continuous self-regulation.

Agents in the NaLA Agent Certification Program are required to retrain, retest, and recertify every 90 days. This ensures they are up-to-date in their knowledge of Lifeline, and holds them accountable for eligibility and the rules within the Lifeline program. It also allows NaLA to quickly disseminate, train, and test agents' understanding of regulatory and compliance changes. It creates a national standard for agent training and assists with ensuring that compliance obligations are understood by sales agents and the consumers they interact with.

"It has been exciting to see how quickly the NaLA Agent Certification Program was outlined as an important 2018 initiative by the NaLA Board of Directors and embraced by ETCs and agents," said National Lifeline Association Chairman David B. Dorwart. "The ongoing certification courses were created to provide a national standard for agent training and assist ETCs in self-regulating to foster field compliance. Both are critical to the advancement of the Lifeline program." David added, "The need for agent training existed and NaLA, with the support and expertise of some of the most respected compliance executives in the wireless Lifeline industry, stepped in to fill it."

NaLA's overall vision in implementing this program is to help the ETCs train their agents to be well-versed in the Lifeline program fundamentals such as the consumer application, recertification and regulatory compliance requirements. The result is that trained agents are able to better assist eligible, low-income consumers with the Lifeline application process.

About The National Lifeline Association:

The National Lifeline Association is a non-profit organization that provides a foundation of support for Lifeline participants, service providers, distributors, government and regulatory bodies, and other advocates of Lifeline.

NaLA members are passionate about supporting their vision, "In America, every person should have access to essential communication services." With their leadership and direction, NaLA provides and promotes Lifeline education, collaboration, and advocacy across the U.S.

SOURCE National Lifeline Association