SurgePays Inc (SURG)

[StockItOut]

SurgePays, Inc: Abusing FCC Low-Income Programs
https://www.birddogresearch.com /

SurgePays rapid ACP revenue growth was fueled by potential violations of FCC regulations around agent registration and compensation. If found in violation of these rules, SurgePays could be fined over $100M.

Rules regulating the ACP state the FCC “requires all participating providers to have their agents and other enrollment representatives registered with the Representative Accountability Database (RAD), as is currently required for the Lifeline and EBB Programs, as a way to minimize waste, fraud, and abuse… A participating provider shall require that enrollment representatives register with the Administrator before the enrollment representative can provide information directly or indirectly to the National Lifeline Accountability Database or the National Verifier


Overall, we believe that SurgePays management is misleading investors and operating a business violating FCC regulations. The CEO has a history of alleged abuses of FCC programs, he continues to mislead investors about the expansion of the SurgePays network and potentially violates multiple FCC regulations regarding payment and registration of agents subscribing customers onto the ACP.

Below are our questions for SurgePays management:

How does your current business model abide by FCC rules around commissions and agent registration?

Are you paying commissions to agents of SurgePays signing up customers to the ACP?

If you are not paying commissions to agents, who are the commissions going to?

How many individuals does SurgePays have registered with the Representative Accountability Database(RAD)?

How are you determining who is and is not an agent and therefore subject to FCC commission and registration rules?

What customer information/data is being provided to your sales reps in the field and store owners enrolling subscribers to the ACP?

Why did SurgePays relabel “commissions” to “marketing” in 2023 if commissions have been prohibited since the inception of the ACP?

What percentage of your ACP signups are via network stores versus pop-up tents vs other channels?

Can you provide details of the stores on your network currently and the number of ACP registrations associated with those stores?

How many pop-up tents do you operate in a given month?

Can you provide the status of your partnership with AATAC?

Can you provide a status on your goal of 25,000 stores by the end of 2023? Why was the goal of 40,000 not hit in 2019?

Why did the store count on the SurgePays network drop from 9,800 to 8,000 from 2019-2020?

Can you provide updated information regarding your acquisition of Commander Communications and its 500 stores?

Can you provide an update on the status of True Wireless’s $5.5M fine by the FCC?

Can you provide details on daily active users on your FinTech platform? Monthly Active Users?


Below are the questions we have for the FCC:

Are SurgePays individuals in tents or stores required to register with RAD based on current ACP rules?

Are SurgePays agents in tents and stores eligible to receive a commission based on current ACP rules?

What actions did the FCC take after the request for a Cease and Desist by Mississippi Public Service Commissioner?

How many agents does SurgePays have registered with RAD? How does this compare to providers of similar ACP distribution amounts?

What are the specs of the devices provided by SurgePays and Torch Wireless that were filed with USAC via the Connected Device Form?

What is the market value of that device? What amount per device is SurgePays requesting from the ACP?

Did SurgePays list Torch Wireless as an affiliate when registering for ACP?

Is there any evidence of duplicate subscriptions between SurgePays and Torch Wireless?

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