The FCC should allow rural local exchange carriers to opt out of ...

Small Telecommunications Companies. In joint comments Monday, the rural groups said the agency should instead let RLECs report a list of service addresses or Geographic Information System service coordinates. In the order setting the census-tract rule, the FCC said carriers that showed “significant hardship” could report in that way. But the order didn’t define the qualification, nor did it say how a carrier could make the showing, the rural associations said. Providing an alternative option for RLECs is justified, because the new census-tract rules “require major alterations to rural LEC’s recordkeeping, training and business practices,” they said. “With generally small staffs, recordkeeping and other regulatory changes are disproportionately burdensome for rural LECs.” Meanwhile, the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance urged the FCC to push back the March 1 deadline for the new census-tract data. The FCC should set the deadline at least 120 days after the revised Form 497 and instructions become available, ITTA said in comments. OMB will likely approve the new form in late December, at the earliest, it said. “Even if the [FCC] receives OMB approval for the revised Form 497 shortly thereafter, filers would have, at most, approximately two months (or 40 eight-hour business days) to compile data and submit the report to the [FCC],” ITTA said. “Deferral of the filing deadline will provide additional time to work with vendors and help minimize the degree to which data will need to be input manually.”