Rule2024-01634
Connect America Fund
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
January 31, 2024
Effective
January 31, 2024
Issuing agencies
Federal Communications Commission
Abstract
In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) defers the commencement of the next five-year deployment obligation term for legacy rate-of-return carriers receiving Connect America Fund Broadband Loop Support (CAF BLS) in 2024 until January 1, 2025, while it considers general program reforms.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 21 (Wednesday, January 31, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 21 (Wednesday, January 31, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 6021-6023]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-01634]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
47 CFR Part 54
[WC Docket No. 10-90; FCC 23-118; FR ID 198698]
Connect America Fund
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Final action.
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SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC
or Commission) defers the commencement of the next five-year deployment
obligation term for legacy rate-of-return carriers receiving Connect
America Fund Broadband Loop Support (CAF BLS) in 2024 until January 1,
2025, while it considers general program reforms.
DATES: The Commission defers the commencement of the next five-year
deployment obligation term for legacy rate-of-return carriers receiving
CAF BLS in 2024 effective January 31, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, please
contact, William Layton, Attorney Advisor, Telecommunications Access
Policy Division, Wireline Competition Bureau, at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b8efd1d4d4d1d9d596f4d9c1ccd7d6f8dedbdb96dfd7ce"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="86d1efeaeaefe7eba8cae7fff2e9e8c6e0e5e5a8e1e9f0">[email protected]</span></a>
or 202-418-7400.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Second
Report and Order (Order) in WC Docket No. 10-90; adopted on December
26, 2023, and released on December 27,
[[Page 6022]]
2023. The full text of this document is available at the following
internet address: <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-defers-next-deployment-term-legacy-high-cost-carriers">https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-defers-next-deployment-term-legacy-high-cost-carriers</a>.
I. Introduction
1. The Commission hereby defers the commencement of the next five-
year deployment obligation term for legacy rate-of-return carriers
receiving CAF BLS in 2024 until January 1, 2025, while it considers
general program reforms in the ongoing Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
(NPRM), 88 FR 56579, August 18, 2023, proceeding. Legacy carriers will
remain subject to the Commission's rules, requiring the offering of
broadband service at actual speeds of at least 25 Mbps downstream/3
Mbps upstream to the previously determined number of unserved locations
under the current five-year term that ends on December 31, 2023.
Deferring the commencement of the next term will maintain the status
quo as the Commission considers whether to modify deployment
obligations for CAF BLS recipients going forward, allowing the
Commission to take into account the effect of awards for broadband
deployment pursuant to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment
Program (BEAD Program) or other Federal programs.
II. Discussion
2. The Commission defers the commencement of the next deployment
obligation term for CAF BLS recipients by one year, until January 1,
2025, as described in the NPRM. The deferral will allow the Commission
to address the future budget and deployment obligations for CAF BLS
carriers and give the Commission additional time to evaluate the impact
of BEAD Program and other Federal and state broadband program
commitments made by eligible providers. This action by no means
releases legacy carriers from their deployment commitments by the end
of 2023 under the Commission's rules.
3. The Commission agrees with those commenters supporting the
deferral of the next deployment obligation term until January 1, 2025.
As NTCA--The Rural Broadband Association (NTCA) states, ``[t]his should
afford time to determine with greater precision where BEAD and other
programs impose enforceable commitments of their own, leaving it clear
what remaining locations could then be served at higher levels
leveraging [CAF BLS] resources.'' Because the ``size, characteristics,
and broadband needs of the rural service areas . . . will not be
determinable for some time,'' the Commission should ``monitor broadband
deployment in the remaining [CAF BLS/high-cost loop support] areas for
at least one year before embarking upon the consideration of potential
changes . . . deployment obligations.'' Given the additional time
needed to ``issue the necessary legacy program revision orders, the
next five-year term for CAF BLS support should begin no later than
January 1, 2025.''
4. The sole commenter objecting to a deferment, the Nebraska Public
Service Commission, states it will delay ``the deployment of broadband
infrastructure improvement in these areas.'' The Commission agrees with
NTCA, however, that the ``benefits of greater coordination and
potential relief for the future [Universal Service Fund] budget
outweigh'' such concerns. Although the Commission previously has
imposed specific broadband deployment obligations on CAF BLS support
recipients, it concludes that such requirements are not in the public
interest during the deferral period. In particular, broadband
deployment obligations for CAF BLS support recipients have reflected a
carefully-calibrated balancing of measurable broadband deployment
objectives coupled with appropriate carrier flexibility, and the record
does not reveal a viable way of similarly accommodating those interests
in a deferral period. The Commission has recognized that carriers need
to plan their broadband deployments. Forging ahead with the next
deployment obligation term under the current rules, or applying other
deployment obligations specific to a deferral term, even as the
Commission considers significant changes, would undermine the viability
of that planning given that both the support levels and ultimate
deployment obligations would be uncertain over the relevant time
horizon. The Commission also has recognized rate-of-return CAF BLS
support recipients' need for flexibility in implementing the associated
broadband deployment obligations, reflected, for example, in our
decision to give those carriers flexibility in how they spread their
deployment efforts out over the course of a deployment term, and in our
actions to ensure those carriers have a full five-year deployment term
to fulfill those deployment obligations. The record does not reveal a
way to similarly achieve those objectives as part of deployment
obligations for CAF BLS support recipients in 2024, while the
Commission considers future reforms in that regard. Such near-term
deployment obligations for CAF BLS support recipients also could lead
to the inefficient allocation of resources in the event that broadband
deployment obligations would require them to deploy facilities that
could not be used efficiently--or at all--to achieve any revised
broadband deployment obligations that the Commission might adopt.
Accordingly, the Commission finds the better course is to maintain the
status quo pending the outcome of the rulemaking proceeding.
5. The Commission emphasizes, notwithstanding this action, CAF BLS
recipients, including those that were not authorized for Enhanced
Alternative Connect America Cost Model (Enhanced A-CAM), remain subject
to the current December 31, 2023, term deadline and must satisfy their
broadband service location coverage requirements by that date. Further,
CAF BLS recipients not authorized for Enhanced A-CAM remain subject to
the Commission's reporting and certification requirements, including
the reporting of newly served locations in the High Cost Universal
Broadband portal, and the Commission's broadband network performance
testing and certification requirements. Legacy carriers remain eligible
to receive high-cost support during the deferral period to cover their
ongoing eligible costs subject to the Commission's monthly per-line cap
support amount. Carriers are also permitted, but not required, to
expand their broadband service coverage to unserved locations during
the deferral period and are expected to at least maintain their
coverage footprint as of December 31, 2023, as the Commission considers
future deployment obligations.
III. Procedural Matters
A. Paperwork Reduction Act
6. This document does not contain new or modified information
collection requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,
Public Law 104-13. In addition, therefore, it does not contain any new
or modified information collection burden for small business concerns
with fewer than 25 employees, pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork
Relief Act of 2002, Public Law 107-198, see 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(4).
B. Congressional Review Act
7. The Commission has determined, and the Administrator of the
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and
Budget, concurs, that this final action is ``non-major'' under the
Congressional Review
[[Page 6023]]
Act, 5 U.S.C. 804(2). The Commission will send a copy of the Order to
Congress and the Government Accountability Office pursuant to 5 U.S.C.
801(a)(1)(A).
8. Effective Date. The Commission concludes that good cause exists
to make the Order effective immediately upon publication in the Federal
Register, pursuant to section 553(d)(3) of the Administrative Procedure
Act. Agencies determining whether there is good cause to make effective
an order less than 30 days after Federal Register publication ``should
balance the necessity for immediate implementation against principles
of fundamental fairness, which require that all affected persons be
afforded reasonable time to prepare for the effective date of is
ruling.'' In this action, the Commission is deferring the commencement
of the next deployment obligation term, which would commence on January
1, 2024, but for the action taken here. The Order therefore does not
impose new rule obligations that would require preparation by legacy
rate-of-return carriers but instead delays the commencement of existing
requirements while the Commission considers rule changes in the ongoing
rulemaking proceeding. Accordingly, given the timing of the next
deployment obligation term and that deferment will not require advanced
preparation by carriers, the Commission finds good cause exists to make
the Order effective upon publication of a summary in the Federal
Register.
9. Final Regulatory Flexibility Certification. The Regulatory
Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended (RFA), requires an agency to
prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis for notice-and-comment
rulemakings, unless the agency certifies the proposed or final rule(s)
``will not, if promulgated, have a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities.'' The RFA generally defines the
term ``small entity'' as having the same meaning as the terms ``small
business,'' ``small organization,'' and ``small governmental
jurisdiction.'' In addition, the term ``small business'' has the same
meaning as the term ``small business concerns'' under the Small
Business Act. A ``small business concern'' is one that: (1) is
independently owned and operated; (2) is not dominant in its field of
operation; and (3) satisfies any additional criteria established by the
Small Business Administration (SBA).
10. As required by the RFA, the Commission incorporated an Initial
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) in the NPRM, released in July
2023. The Commission sought written public comment on the proposals in
the NPRM, including comment on the IFRA. No comments were filed
addressing the IRFA. The two statutorily-mandated criteria to be
applied in determining the need for RFA analysis are (1) whether the
proposed rules, if adopted, would have a significant economic effect,
and (2) if so, whether the economic effect would directly affect a
substantial number of small entities. For the reasons discussed below,
the Commission has determined that the rules and policy changes adopted
in the Second Report and Order will not have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities and has prepared this
Final Regulatory Flexibility Certification (FRFC).
11. The Order defers the commencement of the next five-year
deployment obligation term, until January 1, 2025, for those cost-based
rate-of-return carriers receiving CAF BLS. Legacy carriers will remain
subject to the Commission's rules, requiring the offering of broadband
service at actual speeds of at least 25 Mbps downstream/3 Mbps upstream
to the previously determined number of unserved locations under the
current five-year term that ends on December 31, 2023. This will
maintain the status quo as the Commission considers general program
reforms in the NPRM proceeding, including whether to modify deployment
obligations for CAF BLS recipients going forward. Because this action
delays the commencement of deployment obligations already provided for
under the Commission's rules, it will not cause any significant
economic impact on providers, including those which are small entities.
12. Accordingly, based on the Commission's application of the two
statutorily-mandated criteria to the rules adopted in the Order, it
concludes that the adopted rules and policy changes will not have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
The Commission therefore certifies that the rules and policy changes
adopted in the Order will not have a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities.
13. The Commission will send a copy of the Order, including a copy
of the FRFC, in a report to Congress pursuant to the Congressional
Review Act. In addition, the Order and the FRFC will be sent to the
Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the SBA and will be published in the
Federal Register.
IV. Ordering Clauses
14. Accordingly, it is ordered, pursuant to the authority contained
in sections 4(i), 214, 218-220, and 254 of the Communications Act of
1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 154(i), 214, 218-220, and 254, and
Sec. Sec. 1.1, 1.3, and 1.425 of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 1.1,
1.3, and 1.425 the Order is adopted. The Order shall be effective upon
publication of the text or summary in the Federal Register.
Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene Dortch,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2024-01634 Filed 1-30-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P
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