Goto Section: 54.311 | 54.313 | Table of Contents
FCC 54.312
Revised as of October 1, 2013
Goto Year:2012 |
2014
§ 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 in 2012. From January 1, 2012, to December 31,
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. If a carrier intends to deploy to census blocks
not initially identified at the time of election, it must inform the
Commission, the Administrator, relevant state commissions, and any
affected Tribal government of the change at least 90 days prior to
commencing deployment in the new census blocks. No sooner than 46 days
after the Wireline Competition Bureau issues a public notice announcing
the updated deployment plans but prior to commencing deployment, the
carrier must make the certifications described in this paragraph with
respect to the new census blocks. If a carrier no longer intends to
deploy to a previously identified census block, it must inform the
Commission, the Administrator, relevant state commission, and any
affected Tribal government prior to filing its certification pursuant
to § 54.313(b)(2).
(c) Incremental Support in 2013. From January 1, 2013, to December 31,
2013, 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 high-cost proxy
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, shown
as unserved by fixed Internet access with speeds of at least 768 kbps
downstream and 200 kbps upstream on the then-current version of the
National Broadband Map, equal to the amount of incremental support it
accepts divided by $775.
(3) An eligible telecommunications carrier must accept funding pursuant
to paragraph (c)(2) of this section before it may accept funding
pursuant to paragraph (c)(3) of this section. If an eligible
telecommunications carrier has committed to deploy to all locations
eligible for support under paragraph (c)(2) of this section on routes
or projects that can economically be built with $775 in Connect America
funding for each location unserved by 768 kbps downstream and 200 kbps
upstream plus an equal amount of non-Connect America carrier capital
expenditure funding, but the carrier has not fully utilized its
allotted funding, it may also count towards its deployment obligation
locations shown as unserved by fixed Internet access with speeds of at
least 3 Mbps downstream and 768 kbps upstream equal to the amount of
remaining incremental support divided by $550.
(4) 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, the Administrator, relevant state commissions, and any
affected Tribal government, stating the amount of incremental support
it wishes to accept, the number of locations at the $775 amount, the
number of locations at the $550 amount, 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 75 days of being notified of any
incremental support for which it would be eligible.
(5) Along with its notification, an eligible telecommunications carrier
accepting incremental support must submit the following certifications:
(i) The locations to be served to satisfy the deployment obligation are
not shown as served by fixed broadband at the speeds specified in
paragraph (c)(2) or (c)(3) of this section provided by any entity other
than the certifying entity or its affiliate on the then-current version
of the National Broadband Map or that it is challenging the National
Broadband Map's designation of that census block under the challenge
process in paragraph (c)(7) of this section;
(ii) To the best of the carrier's knowledge, the locations are, in
fact, unserved by fixed Internet access with speeds of at least 3 Mbps
downstream and 768 kbps upstream, or 768 kbps downstream and 200 kbps
upstream, as appropriate;
(iii) 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;
(iv) Incremental support will not be used to satisfy any merger
commitment or similar regulatory obligation; and
(v) The carrier has undertaken due diligence to determine the locations
in question are not within the service area of either Broadband
Initiatives Program or the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program
projects that will provide Internet access with speeds of at least 3
Mbps downstream and 768 upstream.
(6) An eligible telecommunications carrier deploying to locations
unserved by 3 Mbps downstream and 768 kbps upstream under paragraph
(c)(3) of this section must also certify that it has prioritized its
planned projects or routes so as to maximize the deployment of
broadband-capable infrastructure to locations lacking Internet access
with speeds of 768 kbps downstream and 200 kbps upstream.
(7) A person may challenge the designation of a census block as served
or unserved by a certain speed as shown on the National Broadband Map.
When the Wireline Competition Bureau determines that the evidence
presented makes it more likely than not that the census block should be
designated as served by broadband with speeds of at least 3 Mbps
downstream and 768 kbps upstream, that locations in that census block
will be treated as served by broadband and therefore ineligible to be
counted for the purposes of paragraph (c)(3) of this section. When the
Wireline Competition Bureau determines that the evidence presented
makes it more likely than not that the census block should be
designated as served by Internet service with speeds of 768 kbps
downstream and 200 kbps upstream, but unserved by broadband with speeds
of at least 3 Mbps downstream and 768 kbps upstream, locations in that
census block will be treated as served by Internet access with speeds
of 768 kbps downstream and 200 kbps upstream and therefore eligible to
be counted for the purposes of paragraph (c)(3) of this section. When
the Wireline Competition Bureau determines that the evidence presented
makes it more likely than not that the census block should be
designated as unserved by Internet service with speeds of 768 kbps
downstream and 200 kbps upstream, locations in that census block will
be treated as unserved by Internet access with speeds of 768 kbps
downstream and 200 kbps upstream and therefore eligible to be counted
for the purposes of paragraph (c)(2) of this section.
(8) If no entity other than the carrier or its affiliate provides
Internet service with speeds of 3 Mbps downstream and 768 kbps upstream
or greater as shown on the National Broadband Map or as determined by
the process described in paragraph (c)(7), the carrier may satisfy its
deployment obligations at a location shown by the National Broadband
Map as being served by that carrier or its affiliate with such service
by certifying that it is the only entity providing such service, that
the location does not actually receive speeds of 3 Mbps downstream and
768 kbps upstream, and the location is served through a copper-fed
digital subscriber line access multiplexer. The carrier must
specifically identify such locations in its election. Such locations
will be treated the same as locations under paragraph (c)(3) of this
section.
(9) An eligible telecommunications carrier must complete deployment of
broadband-capable infrastructure 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 allowances, if
any, associated with a specified price for a service offering 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;
78 FR 38233 , June 26, 2013]
Effective Date Note: At 78 FR 48624 , Aug. 9, 2013, § 54.312 was
amended by revising paragraphs (b)(3) and (c)(4). These paragraph
contain information collection and recordkeeping requirements and will
not become effective until approval has been given by the Office of
Management and Budget.
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Goto Section: 54.311 | 54.313
Goto Year: 2012 |
2014
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