§ 63.71   Procedures for discontinuance, reduction or impairment of service by
domestic carriers.

   Any domestic carrier that seeks to discontinue, reduce or impair
   service shall be subject to the following procedures:

   (a) The carrier shall notify all affected customers of the planned
   discontinuance, reduction, or impairment of service and shall notify
   and submit a copy of its application to the public utility commission
   and to the Governor of the State in which the discontinuance,
   reduction, or impairment of service is proposed; to any
   federally-recognized Tribal Nations with authority over the Tribal
   lands in which the discontinuance, reduction, or impairment of service
   is proposed; and also to the Secretary of Defense, Attn. Special
   Assistant for Telecommunications, Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301.
   Notice shall be in writing to each affected customer unless the
   Commission authorizes in advance, for good cause shown, another form of
   notice. For purposes of this section, notice by email constitutes
   notice in writing. Notice shall include the following:

   (1) Name and address of carrier;

   (2) Date of planned service discontinuance, reduction or impairment;

   (3) Points of geographic areas of service affected;

   (4) Brief description of type of service affected; and

   (5) One of the following statements:

   (i) If the carrier is non-dominant with respect to the service being
   discontinued, reduced or impaired, the notice shall state: The FCC will
   normally authorize this proposed discontinuance of service (or
   reduction or impairment) unless it is shown that customers would be
   unable to receive service or a reasonable substitute from another
   carrier or that the public convenience and necessity is otherwise
   adversely affected. If you wish to object, you should file your
   comments as soon as possible, but no later than 15 days after the
   Commission releases public notice of the proposed discontinuance. You
   may file your comments electronically through the FCC's Electronic
   Comment Filing System using the docket number established in the
   Commission's public notice for this proceeding, or you may address them
   to the Federal Communications Commission, Wireline Competition Bureau,
   Competition Policy Division, Washington, DC 20554, and include in your
   comments a reference to the § 63.71 Application of (carrier's name).
   Comments should include specific information about the impact of this
   proposed discontinuance (or reduction or impairment) upon you or your
   company, including any inability to acquire reasonable substitute
   service.

   (ii) If the carrier is dominant with respect to the service being
   discontinued, reduced or impaired, the notice shall state: The FCC will
   normally authorize this proposed discontinuance of service (or
   reduction or impairment) unless it is shown that customers would be
   unable to receive service or a reasonable substitute from another
   carrier or that the public convenience and necessity is otherwise
   adversely affected. If you wish to object, you should file your
   comments as soon as possible, but no later than 30 days after the
   Commission releases public notice of the proposed discontinuance. You
   may file your comments electronically through the FCC's Electronic
   Comment Filing System using the docket number established in the
   Commission's public notice for this proceeding, or you may address them
   to the Federal Communications Commission, Wireline Competition Bureau,
   Competition Policy Division, Washington, DC 20554, and include in your
   comments a reference to the § 63.71 Application of (carrier's name).
   Comments should include specific information about the impact of this
   proposed discontinuance (or reduction or impairment) upon you or your
   company, including any inability to acquire reasonable substitute
   service.

   (6) For applications to discontinue, reduce, or impair an existing
   retail service as part of a technology transition, as defined in
   § 63.60(h) of this part, in order to be eligible for automatic grant
   under paragraph (f) of this section:

   (i) A statement that any service offered in place of the service being
   discontinued, reduced, or impaired may not provide line power; and

   (ii) The information required by § 12.5(d)(1) of this chapter.

   (7) For applications to discontinue, reduce, or impair an existing
   retail service as part of a technology transition, as defined in
   § 63.60(h) of this part, in order to be eligible for automatic grant
   under paragraph (f) of this section:

   (i) A description of any security responsibilities the customer will
   have regarding the replacement service; and

   (ii) A list of the steps the customer may take to ensure safe use of
   the replacement service.

   (b) If a carrier uses email to provide notice to affected customers, it
   must comply with the following requirements in addition to the
   requirements generally applicable to the notice:

   (1) The carrier must have previously obtained express, verifiable,
   prior approval from retail customers to send notices via email
   regarding their service in general, or planned discontinuance,
   reduction, or impairment in particular;

   (2) A carrier must ensure that the subject line of the message clearly
   and accurately identifies the subject matter of the email; and

   (3) Any email notice returned to the carrier as undeliverable will not
   constitute the provision of notice to the customer.

   (c) The carrier shall file with this Commission, on or after the date
   on which notice has been given to all affected customers, an
   application which shall contain the following:

   (1) Caption—“Section 63.71 Application”;

   (2) Information listed in § 63.71(a) (1) through (4) above;

   (3) Brief description of the dates and methods of notice to all
   affected customers;

   (4) Whether the carrier is considered dominant or non-dominant with
   respect to the service to be discontinued, reduced or impaired; and

   (5) Any other information the Commission may require.

   (d)(1) If an incumbent LEC, as that term is defined in § 51.5 of this
   chapter, obtains authority to discontinue, reduce, or impair a
   time-division multiplexing (TDM) service listed in this paragraph
   (c)(1) and if the incumbent LEC offers an Internet Protocol (IP)
   service in the same geographic market(s) as the TDM service following
   the discontinuance, reduction, or impairment of such TDM service, then
   as a condition on such authority, the incumbent LEC shall provide any
   requesting telecommunications carrier wholesale access reasonably
   comparable to the level of wholesale access it previously provided on
   reasonably comparable rates, terms, and conditions. This condition
   shall expire when all of the following have occurred:

   (i) The Commission identifies a set of rules and/or policies that will
   ensure rates, terms, and conditions for special access services are
   just and reasonable;

   (ii) The Commission provides notice such rules are effective in the
   Federal Register; and (iii) Such rules and/or policies become
   effective.

   (2) The requirements of this paragraph apply to:

   (i) A special access service that is used as a wholesale input by one
   or more telecommunications carriers; and

   (ii) A service that is used as a wholesale input by one or more
   telecommunications carriers to provide end users with voice service and
   that includes last-mile service, local circuit switching, and shared
   transport.

   (e) Discontinuance applications and all related attachments to the
   application filed under this section shall be filed through the “Submit
   a Non-Docketed Filing” module of the Commission's Electronic Comment
   Filing System.

   (f) The application to discontinue, reduce or impair service, if filed
   by a domestic, non-dominant carrier, shall be automatically granted on
   the 31st day after its filing with the Commission without any
   Commission notification to the applicant unless the Commission has
   notified the applicant that the grant will not be automatically
   effective. The application to discontinue, reduce or impair service, if
   filed by a domestic, dominant carrier, shall be automatically granted
   on the 60th day after its filing with the Commission without any
   Commission notification to the applicant unless the Commission has
   notified the applicant that the grant will not be automatically
   effective. For purposes of this section, an application will be deemed
   filed on the date the Commission releases public notice of the filing.
   An application to discontinue, reduce, or impair an existing retail
   service as part of a technology transition, as defined in § 63.60(h) of
   this part, may be automatically granted only if the applicant provides
   affected customers with the notice required under paragraphs (a)(6) and
   (7) of this section, and the application contains the showing or
   certification described in § 63.602(b) of this part.

   (g) An application to discontinue, reduce, or impair a service for
   which the requesting carrier has had no customers or reasonable
   requests for service during the 180-day period immediately preceding
   submission of the application shall be automatically granted on the
   31st day after its filing with the Commission without any Commission
   notification to the applicant, unless the Commission has notified the
   applicant that the grant will not be automatically effective.

   (h) An application to discontinue, reduce, or impair an existing retail
   service as part of a technology transition, as defined in § 63.60(h) of
   this part, shall contain the information required by § 63.602 of this
   part. The certification or showing described in § 63.602(b) of this part
   is only required if the applicant seeks eligibility for automatic grant
   under paragraph (f) of this section.

   (i) An application to discontinue, reduce, or impair a service filed by
   a competitive local exchange carrier in response to a copper retirement
   notice filed pursuant to § 51.332 of this chapter shall be automatically
   granted on the effective date of the copper retirement; provided that:

   (1) The competitive local exchange carrier submits the application to
   the Commission for filing at least 40 days prior to the copper
   retirement effective date; and

   (2) The application includes a certification, executed by an officer or
   other authorized representative of the applicant and meeting the
   requirements of § 1.16 of this chapter, that the copper retirement is
   the basis for the application.

   (j) Procedures for discontinuance, reduction or impairment of
   international services are in § 63.19.

   [ 64 FR 39939 , July 23, 1999, as amended at  71 FR 65751 , Nov. 9, 2006;
    73 FR 56741 , Sept. 30, 2008;  80 FR 1588 , Jan. 13, 2015;  80 FR 63373 ,
   Oct. 19, 2015;  81 FR 62656 , Sept. 12, 2016]

   Effective Date Note: At  81 FR 62656 , Sept. 12, 2016, § 63.71 was amended
   by revising paragraph (a) introductory text, adding paragraphs (a)(6)
   and (7), redesignating paragraph (f) as (j), redesignating paragraphs
   (b) through (e) as (c) through (f), adding new paragraph (b), adding a
   sentence to the end of newly redesignated paragraph (f), and adding
   paragraphs (g), (h), and (i).These paragraphs 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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