RLECs Press FCC on Intercarrier Compensation, USF Issues in Recon Bids, Rulemaking
NTCA and WTA urged the FCC to act on intercarrier compensation (ICC) and USF issues they had raised in petitions for reconsideration and in comments on a 2016 Further NPRM. The commission should reconsider soon a "requirement that carriers impute…
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Access Recovery Charges (ARCs) to standalone broadband connections" in place before a 2011 USF and intercarrier compensation overhaul, said the rural telcos groups' filing posted Wednesday in docket 10-90 on their discussion with Wireline Bureau staffers. Participants "discussed various means of striking an appropriate balance" to ensure that eliminating the duty won't harm the budget for ARC-related Connect America Fund and ICC support. NTCA and WTA also urged the FCC to reconsider, or for the bureau to clarify, "how competitive overlap will be validated" (unsubsidized competitive overlap makes an area ineligible for CAF support). The groups asked the FCC "to at least specify as soon as possible the 'dataset' that will be used as the preliminary baseline for competitive overlap determinations" for CAF-BLS (broadband loop support) eligibility, even if the determinations take longer. They offered further suggestions on competitive-overlap specifics. Following up on comments in the 2016 rulemaking, the groups sought prompt guidance to "dispel lingering uncertainty and ambiguity" on whether certain expenses are recoverable through USF support and how they would be recovered. They proposed draft rules modeled on language in the FNPRM.