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FCC

RIN: 3060-AJ90

Publication ID: Spring 2015

Title: Connect America Fund High-Cost Universal Service Support; WC Docket No. 10-90, WC Docket No. 05-337
Abstract: 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.
Agency: Federal Communications Commission(FCC)	Priority: Substantive, Nonsignificant
RIN Status: Previously published in the Unified Agenda	Agenda Stage of Rulemaking: Long-Term Actions
Major: Undetermined	Unfunded Mandates: No
CFR Citation: 47 CFR 54
Legal Authority: 47 U.S.C. 151 47 U.S.C. 152 47 U.S.C. 154(i) 47 U.S.C. 201 to 205 47 U.S.C. 218 to 220 47 U.S.C. 254 47 U.S.C. 303(r) 47 U.S.C. 403

Legal Deadline: None

Timetable:

Action	Date	FR Cite
Public Notice	06/21/2012	77 FR 37402
R&O	01/28/2013	78 FR 5750
Order on Reconsideration	04/08/2013	78 FR 20796
Next Action Undetermined	To Be Determined

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required: Undetermined	Government Levels Affected: Undetermined
Included in the Regulatory Plan: No
RIN Data Printed in the FR: No
Agency Contact: Suzanne Yelen Attorney Advisor Federal Communications Commission Wireline Competition Bureau, 45 L Street NE, Washington, DC 20554 Phone:202 418-0626 Email: suzanne.yelen@fcc.gov