Accipiter Gets Waiver of USF Rules Through 2014
Accipiter Communications received a waiver of some of the high-cost USF support rules until the end of 2014. The Phoenix-area telco asked for waiver of the rule limiting per-line support to $250 per month, and a waiver of the high-cost loop support benchmarks rule limiting reimbursable capital and operating expenses. A Wireline Bureau order Wednesday determined a waiver is in the public interest, is justified based on Accipiter’s “reasonable” expenses, and will ensure the telco’s customers continue to have access to broadband and voice service.
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The benchmark rule sets out to compare rate-of-return carriers with their peers. Accipiter said the rules shouldn’t apply to it, because unlike most other rural, rate-of-return carriers, “it is a growing company with rapidly increasing subscribership,” the order said. Accipiter’s higher costs came from expanding its network, the ILEC had argued. Now that the investment is made, the telco said it can add customers with smaller incremental capital and operating expenditures. With the subscriber growth, the company said it expected it wouldn’t need a waiver by 2015.
"Accipiter is a rapidly growing company whose financial projections demonstrate that a waiver will permit it to operate within the support limits established in the USF/ICC Transformation Order within a short timeframe,” the bureau wrote. While Accipiter’s infrastructure investment puts it above the current HCLS caps, the salaries and wages of its employees are “comparable” to other similarly sized carriers, the bureau said, finding its corporate operations expenses reasonable, according to the order. “Accipiter has not made affiliate payments, entered into any leases, or made any distributions to owners or shareholders that appear imprudent."
The bureau said it expects that by January 2015 “at the latest,” Accipiter will no longer require a waiver, and it doesn’t anticipate extending the waiver beyond that date. Until then, “we expect Accipiter to continue to actively pursue all appropriate measures to reduce its dependency on federal high-cost universal service support.” A company attorney told us Accipiter was still reviewing the order.