The FCC’s 7/24/23 Enhanced ACAM (EA-CAM) Order (Order) introduced a new offer of USF support to carriers receiving ACAM support and those carriers receiving Legacy Rate of Return Support. Carriers electing to participate were provided with defined support amounts and are required to provide 100/20 broadband service to a specific number of locations identified in the EA-CAM offer by 12/31/28. The Order established interim deployment milestones of 50% by 12/31/26, 75% by 12/31/27, and finally 100% by 12/31/28 with an additional 12 months to come into compliance with the final deployment milestone. The Order also requires that no later than 12/31/25 adjustments may be made to the deployment obligations and support amounts to identify locations that were already served by a competitor at the time the offers were made or for locations that were subject to an enforceable commitment to provide 100/20 broadband service at the time the offers were made. Per the Order if a location adjustment is a decrease of less than 5% (de minimis) then adjustment to the original EA-CAM offer will not be required. Decreases to a carrier’s specific number of required locations of between 5% and 15% will require adjustments to the original offer and in cases where the decrease in locations is greater than 15% the carrier’s deployment obligations and support amount will be entirely recalculated.
The Order’s deadline of 12/31/25 is rapidly approaching. In a recent letter to the FCC, representatives of the ACAM Broadband Coalition, NTCA, WTA, and USTelecom (EA-CAM Broadband Providers) addressed the upcoming EA-CAM adjustment process specifically regarding the determination as to whether the 5% de minimis threshold has been met. The EA-CAM Broadband Providers urged the Commission to confirm that Obligated Locations will be used when making that assessment.. The following are key points raised in EA-CAM Broadband Provider’s letter:
* Obligated Locations are all locations in an EA-CAM provider’s study area where the EA-CAM provider has a service obligation, whether served or unserved at a minimum of 100/20 Mbps by the EA-CAM provider at the time the EA-CAM offer was made. Obligated Locations exclude locations that an unsubsidized competitor exclusively served, or was under an enforceable commitment to serve at 100/20 speeds at the time the EA-CAM offers were made.
* Required Locations refers to a smaller group of locations. Required Locations refers only to those unserved locations to which the EA-CAM provider must begin to offer service to consistent with the deployment timeline discussed above.
* The EA-CAM Broadband Providers point out that it would be inequitable to use Required Locations to determine if the 5% de minimis threshold has been met since this approach would exclude from consideration all of the locations where carriers were providing 100/20 service to at the time of the EA-CAM offers and are required to continue to serve by the Order. In fact, the EA-CAM offers include support to help sustain service to these locations. The Order specifically states EA-CAM providers are obligated to provide 100/20 service to all required locations and to continue to provide service to those locations that already have 100/20 service excluding locations served (or to be served) exclusively by an unsubsidized competitor.
* If Required Locations were used in the adjustment process, for EA-CAM providers with small numbers of Required Locations a minor decrease in the number of locations could translate into a significant reduction in EA-CAM support, including support intended to sustain service to those locations already being served by the EA-CAM provider at the time the EA-CAM offer was made.
We believe that the EA-CAM Broadband Providers have made a compelling argument for the use of Obligated Locations by the Commission when addressing the Order’s requirement for adjustments to support and deployment obligations by 12/31/25. Further, we hope that the Commission will provide EA-CAM carriers with an appropriate amount of advanced notice regarding any adjustments to support amounts and deployment obligations that may be required.
