Goto Section: 54.307 | 54.309 | Table of Contents
FCC 54.308
Revised as of October 5, 2017
Goto Year:2016 |
2018
§ 54.308 Broadband public interest obligations for recipients of high-cost
support.
(a) Rate-of-return carrier recipients of high-cost support are required
to offer broadband service, at speeds described below, with latency
suitable for real-time applications, including Voice over Internet
Protocol, and usage capacity that is reasonably comparable to
comparable offerings in urban areas, at rates that are reasonably
comparable to rates for comparable offerings in urban areas. For
purposes of determining reasonable comparability of rates, recipients
are presumed to meet this requirement if they offer rates at or below
the applicable benchmark to be announced annually by public notice
issued by the Wireline Competition Bureau.
(1) Carriers that elect to receive Connect America Fund-Alternative
Connect America Cost Model (CAF-ACAM) support pursuant to § 54.311 are
required to offer broadband service at actual speeds of at least 10
Mbps downstream/1 Mbps upstream to a defined number of locations as
specified by public notice, with a minimum usage allowance of 150 GB
per month, subject to the requirement that usage allowances remain
consistent with median usage in the United States over the course of
the ten-year term. In addition, such carriers must offer other speeds
to subsets of locations, as specified below:
(i) Fully funded locations. Fully funded locations are those locations
identified by the Alternative-Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) where
the average cost is above the funding benchmark and at or below the
funding cap. Carriers are required to offer broadband speeds to
locations that are fully funded, as specified by public notice at the
time of authorization, as follows:
(A) Carriers with a state-level density of more than 10 housing units
per square mile, as specified by public notice at the time of election,
are required to offer broadband speeds of at least 25 Mbps downstream/3
Mbps upstream to 75 percent of all fully funded locations in the state
by the end of the ten-year period.
(B) Carriers with a state-level density of 10 or fewer, but more than
five, housing units per square mile, as specified by public notice at
the time of election, are required to offer broadband speeds of at
least 25 Mbps downstream/3 Mbps upstream to 50 percent of fully funded
locations in the state by the end of the ten-year period.
(C) Carriers with a state-level density of five or fewer housing units
per square mile, as specified by public notice at the time of election,
are required to offer broadband speeds of at least 25 Mbps downstream/3
Mbps upstream to 25 percent of fully funded locations in the state by
the end of the ten-year period.
(ii) Capped locations. Capped locations are those locations in census
blocks for which A-CAM calculates an average cost per location above
the funding cap. Carriers are required to offer broadband speeds to
locations that are receiving capped support, as specified by public
notice at the time of authorization, as follows:
(A) Carriers with a state-level density of more than 10 housing units
per square mile, as specified by public notice at the time of election,
are required to offer broadband speeds of at least 4 Mbps downstream/1
Mbps upstream to 50 percent of all capped locations in the state by the
end of the ten-year period.
(B) Carriers with a state-level density of 10 or fewer housing units
per square mile, as specified by public notice at the time of election,
are required to offer broadband speeds of at least 4 Mbps downstream/1
Mbps upstream to 25 percent of capped locations in the state by the end
of the ten-year period.
(C) Carriers shall provide to all other capped locations, upon
reasonable request, broadband at actual speeds of at least 4 Mbps
downstream/1 Mbps upstream.
(2) Rate-of-return recipients of Connect America Fund Broadband Loop
Support (CAF BLS) shall be required to offer broadband service at
actual speeds of at least 10 Mbps downstream/1 Mbps upstream, over a
five-year period, to a defined number of unserved locations as
specified by public notice, as determined by the following methodology:
(i) Percentage of CAF BLS. Each rate-of-return carrier is required to
target a defined percentage of its five-year forecasted CAF-BLS support
to the deployment of broadband service to locations that are unserved
with 10 Mbps downstream/1 Mbps upstream broadband service as follows:
(A) Rate-of-return carriers with less than 20 percent deployment of
10/1 Mbps broadband service in their study areas, as determined by the
Wireline Competition Bureau, will be required to utilize 35 percent of
their five-year forecasted CAF-BLS support to extend broadband service
where it is currently lacking.
(B) Rate-of-return carriers with more than 20 percent but less than 40
percent deployment of 10/1 Mbps broadband service in their study areas,
as determined by the Wireline Competition Bureau, will be required to
utilize 25 percent of their five-year forecasted CAF-BLS support to
extend broadband service where it is currently lacking.
(C) Rate-of-return carriers with more than 40 percent but less than 80
percent deployment of 10/1 Mbps broadband service in their study areas,
as determined by the Wireline Competition Bureau, will be required to
utilize 20 percent of their five-year forecasted CAF-BLS support to
extend broadband service where it is currently lacking.
(ii) Cost per location. The deployment obligation shall be determined
by dividing the amount of support set forth in paragraph (a)(2)(i) of
this section by a cost per location figure based on one of two
methodologies, at the carrier's election:
(A) The higher of:
(1) The weighted average unseparated cost per loop for carriers of
similar density that offer 10/1 Mbps or better broadband service to at
least 95 percent of locations, based on the most current FCC Form 477
data as determined by the Wireline Competition Bureau, but excluding
carriers subject to the current $250 per line per month cap set forth
in § 54.302 and carriers subject to limitations on operating expenses
set forth in § 54.303; or
(2) 150% of the weighted average of the cost per loop for carriers of
similar density, but excluding carriers subject to the current $250 per
line per month cap set forth in § 54.302 and carriers subject to
limitations on operating expenses set forth in § 54.303, with a similar
level of deployment of 10/1 Mbps or better broadband based on the most
current FCC Form 477 data, as determined by Wireline Competition
Bureau; or
(B) The average cost per location for census blocks lacking 10/1 Mbps
broadband service in the carrier's study area as determined by the
A-CAM.
(iii) Restrictions on deployment obligations. (A) No rate-of-return
carrier shall deploy terrestrial wireline technology in any census
block if doing so would result in total support per line in the study
area to exceed the $250 per-line per-month cap in § 54.302.
(B) No rate-of-return carrier shall deploy terrestrial wireline
technology to unserved locations to meet this obligation if that would
exceed the per location/per project capital investment allowance set
forth in § 54.303(f)(1).
(iv) Future deployment obligations. Prior to publishing the deployment
obligations for subsequent five-year periods, the Administrator shall
update the unseparated average cost per loop amounts for carriers with
95 percent or greater deployment of the then-current standard, based on
the then-current NECA cost data, and the Wireline Competition Bureau
shall examine the density groupings and make any necessary adjustments
based on then-current U.S. Census data.
(b) Rate-of-return carrier recipients of high-cost support are required
upon reasonable request to bid on category one telecommunications and
Internet access services in response to a posted FCC Form 470 seeking
broadband service that meets the connectivity targets for the schools
and libraries universal service support program for eligible schools
and libraries (as described in § 54.501) within that carrier's service
area. Such bids must be at rates reasonably comparable to rates charged
to eligible schools and libraries in urban areas for comparable
offerings.
(c) Alaskan rate-of-return carriers receiving support from the Alaska
Plan pursuant to § 54.306 are exempt from paragraph (a) of this section
and are instead required to offer voice and broadband service with
latency suitable for real-time applications, including Voice over
Internet Protocol, and usage capacity that is reasonably comparable to
comparable offerings in urban areas, at rates that are reasonably
comparable to rates for comparable offerings in urban areas, subject to
any limitations in access to backhaul as described in § 54.313(g).
Alaska Plan recipients' specific broadband deployment and speed
obligations shall be governed by the terms of their approved
performance plans as described in § 54.306(b). Alaska Plan recipients
must also comply with paragraph (b) of this section.
(d) Mobile carriers that are receiving support from the Alaska Plan
pursuant to § 54.317(e) shall certify in their annual compliance filings
that their rates are reasonably comparable to rates for comparable
offerings in urban areas. The mobile carrier must also demonstrate
compliance at the end of the five-year milestone and 10-year milestone
and may do this by showing that its required stand-alone voice plan,
and one service plan that offers broadband data services, if it offers
such plans, are:
(1) Substantially similar to a service plan offered by at least one
mobile wireless service provider in the cellular market area (CMA) for
Anchorage, Alaska, and
(2) Offered for the same or a lower rate than the matching plan in the
CMA for Anchorage.
[ 80 FR 4477 , Jan. 27, 2015, as amended at 80 FR 5987 , Feb. 4, 2015; 81 FR 24339 , Apr. 25, 2016; 81 FR 69712 , Oct. 7, 2016; 82 FR 14339 , Mar.
20, 2017]
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Goto Section: 54.307 | 54.309
Goto Year: 2016 |
2018
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