Section 254(b) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires the FCC (the Commission) to preserve and advance access in rural and high-cost areas to telecommunications and information services that are reasonably comparable to those services provided in urban areas, and at reasonably comparable rates. On November 11, 2011, the Commission comprehensively reformed universal service funding, including for high-cost rural areas. In order to implement certain reforms to universal service support, the Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau required incumbent local exchange carriers to submit maps of their relevant geographic boundaries, called "study areas," in a Report and Order adopted November 6, 2013, DA 12-1777.

Accurate and accessible geographic data are essential to the legitimate distribution of universal service support to rural, high-cost carriers. The Commission staff will use the data to determine whether unsubsidized competitors offer service within all or a portion of an incumbent rate-of-return carrier's study area. This analysis will be used to implement a rule that phases out universal service support where unsubsidized competitors offer voice and broadband service throughout 100 percent of an incumbent carrier's study area. The Commission will also make the study area boundary data available to the public for its use.

In an Order on Reconsideration, the Bureau adopted certain modifications and clarifications to the study area boundary data collection rules, including requiring state commissions to certify to the accuracy of any data they submit voluntarily. The Order on Reconsideration also allows carriers subject to price cap regulation to submit study area boundary data at the wire center rather than exchange level. It also provides guidance on the certification and accuracy requirements established in the Report and Order.