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 13-551
Released:  March 26, 2013
WIRELINE COMPETITION BUREAU RELEASES NEW HIGH-COST LOOP SUPPORT 
BENCHMARKS FOR 2013
WC Docket Nos. 10-90, 05-337
On February 27, 2013, the Commission released the Sixth Order on Reconsideration in this 
proceeding.  In that Order, the Commission determined that, prospectively, the high-cost loop support 
benchmarks should be based on the sum of the capital expenditures cap and the operating expenses cap.1  
As our first step in implementing that Order, the Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) is releasing new 
benchmarks for 2013 that (1) sum the capital expenditures cap and the operating expenses cap, which are 
the benchmarks that will go into effect in April, and (2) make certain minor corrections to the inputs used 
in the regression.  The new figures are available at
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-319802A1.xlsx.  The regression inputs and 
coefficients are also available in today’s release.  The benchmarks we release today include the cost used 
to determine support per line based on these summed caps, which the National Exchange Carrier 
Association (NECA) should use once those revised rules are in effect.  
On January 29, 2013, the Bureau released a Public Notice containing the 2013 high-cost loop 
support benchmarks.2 Since the release of the January 29 Public Notice, the Bureau recalculated 
benchmarks based on corrected input data.3 Until the revised rules summing the caps adopted in the  
Sixth Order on Reconsideration go into effect on April 1, 2013, NECA should continue to use the 
benchmark figures contained in the January 29 Public Notice because the impact of these changes on the 
whole is negligible.4 Beginning in April 2013, when the summed benchmarks in the Sixth Order on 
Reconsideration become effective, NECA should use the summed benchmark figures we release today.
- FCC -
  
1 See Connect America Fund et al., WC Docket No. 10-90 et al., Sixth Order on Reconsideration and Memorandum 
Opinion and Order, FCC 13-16, para. 30 (Feb. 27, 2013) (Sixth Order on Reconsideration).  The Commission also 
modified the phase-in for the benchmarks, limiting the total amount of any reduction in support due to the 
benchmarks to no more than 15% of the support for which the study area would otherwise be eligible.  See id. at 
para. 30. 
2 Wireline Competition Bureau Announces High-Cost Loop Support Benchmarks for 2013, WC Docket No. 10-90 et 
al., 28 FCC Rcd 374 (Wireline Comp. Bur. 2013) (January 29 Public Notice).
3 The errors related to the input data associated with the January 29 Public Notice were not related to the regression 
analysis itself; consistent with the Bureau’s initial implementation of the HCLS benchmarks, the same coefficients 
for 2012 were used for 2013.  See Connect America Fund et al., WC Docket No. 10-90 et al., Order, 27 FCC Rcd 
4235, 4251-52, para. 45 (Wireline Comp. Bur. 2012) (HCLS Benchmarks Implementation Order).
4 Overall, the costs used to determine support changed by approximately .07 percent.  Given the small magnitude of 
this change, NECA should not conduct any true ups for previously provided support based upon differences between 
the benchmark figures we release today and those benchmark figures we released in the January 29 Public Notice.  
NECA should use the January 29 Public Notice benchmarks for calculating March support and use the summed 
benchmarks we release today once the summed benchmarks in the Sixth Order on Reconsideration become effective 
in April.