§  54.312   Connect America Fund for Price Cap Territories—Phase I

   (a) Frozen High-Cost Support. Beginning January 1, 2012, each price cap
   local exchange carrier and rate-of-return carrier affiliated with a
   price cap local exchange carrier will have a “baseline support amount”
   equal to its total 2011 support in a given study area, or an amount
   equal to $3,000 times the number of reported lines for 2011, whichever
   is lower. For purposes of this section, price cap carriers are defined
   pursuant to §  61.3(aa) of this chapter and affiliated companies are
   determined by §  32.9000 of this chapter. Each price cap local exchange
   carrier and rate-of-return carrier affiliated with a price cap local
   exchange carrier will have a “monthly baseline support amount” equal to
   its baseline support amount divided by twelve. Beginning January 1,
   2012, on a monthly basis, eligible carriers will receive their monthly
   baseline support amount.

   (1) “Total 2011 support” is the amount of support disbursed to a price
   cap local exchange carrier or rate-of-return carrier affiliated with a
   price cap local exchange carrier for 2011, without regard to prior
   period adjustments related to years other than 2011 and as determined
   by USAC on January 31, 2012.

   (2) For the purpose of calculating the $3,000 per line limit, the
   average of lines reported by a price cap local exchange carrier or
   rate-of-return carrier affiliated with a price cap local exchange
   carrier pursuant to line count filings required for December 31, 2010,
   and December 31, 2011 shall be used.

   (3) A carrier receiving frozen high cost support under this rule shall
   be deemed to be receiving Interstate Access Support and Interstate
   Common Line Support equal to the amount of support the carrier to which
   the carrier was eligible under those mechanisms in 2011.

   (b) Incremental Support. Beginning January 1, 2012, support in addition
   to baseline support defined in paragraph (a) of this section will be
   available for certain price cap local exchange carriers and
   rate-of-return carriers affiliated with price cap local exchange
   carriers as follows.

   (1) For each carrier for which the Wireline Competition Bureau
   determines that it has appropriate data or for which it determines that
   it can make reasonable estimates, the Bureau will determine an average
   per-location cost for each wire center using a simplified
   cost-estimation function derived from the Commission's cost model.
   Incremental support will be based on the wire centers for which the
   estimated per-location cost exceeds the funding threshold. The funding
   threshold will be determined by calculating which funding threshold
   would allocate all available incremental support, if each carrier that
   would be offered incremental support were to accept it.

   (2) An eligible telecommunications carrier accepting incremental
   support must deploy broadband to a number of unserved locations, as
   shown as unserved by fixed broadband on the then-current version of the
   National Broadband Map, equal to the amount of incremental support it
   accepts divided by $775.

   (3) A carrier may elect to accept or decline incremental support. A
   holding company may do so on a holding-company basis on behalf of its
   operating companies that are eligible telecommunications carriers,
   whose eligibility for incremental support, for these purposes, shall be
   considered on an aggregated basis. A carrier must provide notice to the
   Commission, relevant state commissions, and any affected Tribal
   government, stating the amount of incremental support it wishes to
   accept and identifying the areas by wire center and census block in
   which the designated eligible telecommunications carrier will deploy
   broadband to meet its deployment obligation, or stating that it
   declines incremental support. Such notification must be made within 90
   days of being notified of any incremental support for which it would be
   eligible. Along with its notification, a carrier accepting incremental
   support must also submit a certification that the locations to be
   served to satisfy the deployment obligation are not shown as served by
   fixed broadband provided by any entity other than the certifying entity
   or its affiliate on the then-current version of the National Broadband
   Map; that, to the best of the carrier's knowledge, the locations are,
   in fact, unserved by fixed broadband; that the carrier's current
   capital improvement plan did not already include plans to complete
   broadband deployment within the next three years to the locations to be
   counted to satisfy the deployment obligation; and that incremental
   support will not be used to satisfy any merger commitment or similar
   regulatory obligation.

   (4) An eligible telecommunications carrier must complete deployment of
   broadband to two-thirds of the required number of locations within two
   years of providing notification of acceptance of funding, and must
   complete deployment to all required locations within three years. To
   satisfy its deployment obligation, the eligible telecommunications
   carrier must offer broadband service to such locations of at least 4
   Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream, with latency sufficiently low to
   enable the use of real-time communications, including Voice over
   Internet Protocol, and with usage caps, if any, that are reasonably
   comparable to comparable offerings in urban areas.

   [ 76 FR 73872 , Nov. 29, 2011, as amended at  77 FR 31536 , May 29, 2012]

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