Goto Section: 54.101 | 54.202 | Table of Contents
FCC 54.201
Revised as of October 2, 2015
Goto Year:2014 |
2016
§ 54.201 Definition of eligible telecommunications carriers, generally.
(a) Carriers eligible to receive support.
(1) Only eligible telecommunications carriers designated under this subpart
shall receive universal service support distributed pursuant to subparts D
and E of this part. Eligible telecommunications carriers designated under
this subpart for purposes of receiving support only under subpart E of this
part must provide Lifeline service directly to qualifying low-income
consumers.
(2) [Reserved]
(3) This paragraph does not apply to offset or reimbursement support
distributed pursuant to subpart G of this part.
(4) This paragraph does not apply to support distributed pursuant to subpart
F of this part.
(b) A state commission shall upon its own motion or upon request designate a
common carrier that meets the requirements of paragraph (d) of this section
as an eligible telecommunications carrier for a service area designated by
the state commission.
(c) Upon request and consistent with the public interest, convenience, and
necessity, the state commission may, in the case of an area served by a
rural telephone company, and shall, in the case of all other areas,
designate more than one common carrier as an eligible telecommunications
carrier for a service area designated by the state commission, so long as
each additional requesting carrier meets the requirements of paragraph (d)
of this section. Before designating an additional eligible
telecommunications carrier for an area served by a rural telephone company,
the state commission shall find that the designation is in the public
interest.
(d) A common carrier designated as an eligible telecommunications carrier
under this section shall be eligible to receive universal service support in
accordance with section 254 of the Act and, except as described in paragraph
(d)(3) of this section, shall throughout the service area for which the
designation is received:
(1) Offer the services that are supported by federal universal service
support mechanisms under subpart B of this part and section 254(c) of the
Act, either using its own facilities or a combination of its own facilities
and resale of another carrier's services (including the services offered by
another eligible telecommunications carrier); and
(2) Advertise the availability of such services and the charges therefore
using media of general distribution.
(3) Exception. Price cap carriers that serve census blocks that are
identified by the forward-looking cost model as low-cost, census blocks that
are served by an unsubsidized competitor as defined in § 54.5 meeting the
requisite public interest obligations specified in § 54.309, or census blocks
where a subsidized competitor is receiving federal high-cost support to
deploy modern networks capable of providing voice and broadband to fixed
locations, are not required to comply with paragraphs (d)(1) and (2) of this
section in these specific geographic areas. Such price cap carriers remain
obligated to maintain existing voice telephony service in these specific
geographic areas unless and until a discontinuance is granted pursuant to
§ 63.71 of this chapter.
(e) For the purposes of this section, the term facilities means any physical
components of the telecommunications network that are used in the
transmission or routing of the services that are designated for support
pursuant to subpart B of this part.
(f) For the purposes of this section, the term “own facilities” includes,
but is not limited to, facilities obtained as unbundled network elements
pursuant to part 51 of this chapter, provided that such facilities meet the
definition of the term “facilities” under this subpart.
(g) A state commission shall not require a common carrier, in order to
satisfy the requirements of paragraph (d)(1) of this section, to use
facilities that are located within the relevant service area, as long as the
carrier uses facilities to provide the services designated for support
pursuant to subpart B of this part within the service area.
(h) A state commission shall not designate a common carrier as an eligible
telecommunications carrier for purposes of receiving support only under
subpart E of this part unless the carrier seeking such designation has
demonstrated that it is financially and technically capable of providing the
supported Lifeline service in compliance with subpart E of this part.
(i) A state commission shall not designate as an eligible telecommunications
carrier a telecommunications carrier that offers the services supported by
federal universal service support mechanisms exclusively through the resale
of another carrier's services.
[ 62 FR 32948 , June 17, 1997, as amended at 63 FR 2125 , Jan. 13, 1998; 64 FR 62123 , Nov. 16, 1999; 71 FR 65750 , Nov. 9, 2006; 77 FR 12966 , Mar. 2, 2012;
80 FR 4476 , Jan. 27, 2015; 80 FR 40935 , July 14, 2015]
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Goto Section: 54.101 | 54.202
Goto Year: 2014 |
2016
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