PUBLIC NOTICE
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th St., S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20554
News Media Information 202 / 418-0500
Internet: http://www.fcc.gov
TTY: 1-888-835-5322
DA 09-1008
Release Date:  May 4, 2009
WIRELINE COMPETITION BUREAU ANNOUNCES POSTING OF COST MODEL 
WC Docket No. 05-337
CC Docket No. 96-45
In 1998, the Commission adopted a forward-looking economic cost model to be used in 
determining federal high-cost universal service support for non-rural carriers.1 The model was designed 
to run with the Microsoft software operating system and applications used by the Commission at the time, 
Windows 98 and Microsoft Office 1997.  The Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) last updated the 
lines used in the model to estimate costs in 2003 using this version of the cost model.2 The Bureau has 
migrated the model’s application modules to run with more current versions of Microsoft software.  This 
version is compatible with the following minimum operating system requirements:  Microsoft Windows 
XP Operating System, Service Pack 2 or greater, and Microsoft Office Suite 2003, Service Pack 3 or 
greater.  The Bureau is now posting this version of the model, along with a user guide and additional 
documentation, on the Commission’s Web site (www.fcc.gov/wcb/tapd/hcpm/) in conjunction with the 
Commission’s Notice of Inquiry, released April 8, 2009, which seeks comment on revising the high-cost 
universal service support mechanism for non-rural carriers.3
For further information, please contact Katie King, Telecommunications Access Policy Division, 
Wireline Competition Bureau at (202) 418-7400 or TTY (202) 418-0484.
- FCC -
  
1 Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, CC Docket Nos. 96-45, 97-160, Fifth Report and Order, 13 FCC 
Rcd 21323 (1998).
2 The Commission delegated to the Common Carrier Bureau the authority to make technical changes to the model.  
See id. at 21330, para. 13.  As part of a Commission restructuring in 2002, the Common Carrier Bureau was 
renamed the Wireline Competition Bureau.  Federal Communications Commission's Common Carrier Bureau 
Reorganized Along Functional Lines, News Release (Mar. 8, 2002), available at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_ 
public/attachmatch/DOC-220644A1.pdf.
3 High-Cost Universal Service Support, Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, WC Docket No. 05-337, 
CC Docket Nos. 96-45, Notice of Inquiry, FCC 09-28 (rel. Apr. 8, 2009).