A December 1st Wireline Competition Bureau Public Notice provided further clarification to rate-of-return ILECs concerning tariff filings for Consumer Broadband-only Loop (CBOL) service. By previous orders, all such carriers choosing to offer CBOL service as of January 3, 2017, whether on a tariffed or detariffed basis, are required to file access charge tariffs and/or Tariff Review Plan (TRP) worksheets by December 19th or 27th, depending on the type of changes proposed.
But the demand for A-CAM, which caused total payments to far exceed the Commission’s budget and precipitated a hurry-up proceeding to address measures for additional funding, necessitated the new instructions included in this notice.
The FCC determined that those rate-of-return ILECs that elected A-CAM support (whose specific level of support has not as yet been determined, and may still be able to opt out of A-CAM depending on the FCC funding action presently under consideration) are instructed to prepare and file their tariff information assuming that they will be receiving Connect America Fund Broadband Loop Support (CAF BLS), rather than model-based support, as of January 1, 2017.
The Notice recognizes that support will change for carriers that ultimately are authorized for A-CAM, and will provide further detail on implementation once such authorization occurs.
