Federal Communications Commission DA 14-1882
Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
In the Matter of
Connect America Fund
Universal Service Reform – Mobility Fund
ETC Annual Reports and Certifications
Establishing Just and Reasonable Rates for Local 
Exchange Carriers
Developing a Unified Intercarrier Compensation 
Regime
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WC Docket No. 10-90
WT Docket No. 10-208
WC Docket No. 14-58
WC Docket No. 07-135
CC Docket No. 01-92
ORDER
Adopted:  December 22, 2014 Released: December 22, 2014
By the Chief, Wireline Competition Bureau:
I. INTRODUCTION
1. In this Order, the Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) hereby dismisses petitions for 
reconsideration of the April 2014 Connect America Order/FNPRM
1
filed by the National Exchange 
Carrier Association, NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association, the Eastern Rural Telecom Association, 
and WTA – Advocates for Rural Broadband (Rural Associations)
2
and the United States Telecom
Association (USTelecom).
3
  The Bureau finds that the Joint Petition and one of the requests in the 
USTelecom Petition are untimely.
4
  In addition, the other request in the USTelecom Petition was neither 
presented to the Commission prior to this Petition nor addressed by the Commission in its Order and is 
therefore not properly subject to reconsideration.
5
  
                                                     
1
Connect America Fund et al., WC Docket No. 10-90 et al., Report and Order et al., 29 FCC Rcd 7051 (2014) 
(April 2014 Connect America Order/FNPRM).
2
Petition for Reconsideration, National Exchange Carrier Association et al., WC Docket No. 10-90 et al. (filed Aug. 
4, 2014) (Joint Petition).
3
Petition for Reconsideration, United States Telecom Association, WC Docket No. 10-90 et al. (filed Aug. 8, 2014) 
(USTelecom Petition).  The USTelecom Petition asked for reconsideration of three issues, the second and third of 
which we address herein.  The first issue was addressed in a recent Commission order.  Connect America Fund et 
al., WC Docket No. 10-90 et al., Report and Order, FCC 14-190, para. 115 n.253 (rel. Dec. 18, 2014) (December
2014 Connect America Order).
4
Under section 1.429(l), petitions for reconsideration of a Commission action that plainly do not warrant 
consideration by the Commission may be dismissed or denied by the relevant Bureau.  Examples of such petitions 
include petitions that are untimely.  47 C.F.R. § 1.429(l)(9).
5
Under section 1.429(l)(2), petitions for reconsideration that rely on facts or arguments that have not previously 
been presented to the Commission may be dismissed or denied by the relevant Bureau.  47 C.F.R. § 1.429(l)(2). 
Federal Communications Commission DA 14-1882
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II. BACKGROUND
2. In the USF/ICC Transformation Order, the Commission comprehensively reformed and 
modernized the high-cost program within the universal service fund.
6
  As part of that reform, high-cost 
support is reduced in areas where end-user rates for voice service are below a specified local rate floor.
7
  
The Commission explicitly stated that the rate floor was to be the national average of urban local rates 
plus certain state regulated fees and was to be calculated based on a survey of urban rates to be conducted 
by the Bureau.
8
  
3. The Bureau issued a Public Notice announcing the results of the urban voice rate survey
in March 2014
9
and soon thereafter released the data that was collected through the rate survey.
10
  In the 
April 2014 Connect America Order/FNPRM, the Commission adopted a limited waiver of the rule 
requiring support reductions for lines with rates below the rate floor, concluding those reductions should 
be phased in over a more gradual time period.
11
4. On August 4, 2014, the Rural Associations filed a petition for reconsideration asking the 
Commission to reconsider the methodology for establishing the rate floor.
12
  The Rural Associations
argue that the rate floor should be set at least one standard deviation below the national urban average, 
rather than at the national urban average, to permit the Commission to use smaller increments for the 
phase-in, or shorten the overall phase-in period.
13
On August 8, 2014, USTelecom requested that the 
Commission reconsider the schedule for the voice pricing data collection portion of the Urban Rate 
Survey,
14
arguing that the Survey is burdensome and unnecessary until the last year of the phase-in of
reductions in high-cost support adopted in the Order.
15
  USTelecom further asks the Commission to 
reconsider its decision to waive application of section 54.318(i) of the Commission’s rules to only 
Lifeline customers.
16
  USTelecom argues that this waiver should extend to “vacation lines” and “warm 
lines” because these type of services are not reasonably comparable services for purposes of reducing 
support due to rates below the local rate floor.
17
                                                     
6
Connect America Fund et al., WC Docket No. 10-90 et al., Report and Order et al., 26 FCC Rcd 17663 (2011), 
aff’d, 753 F.3d 1015 (10th Cir. 2014) (USF/ICC Transformation Order).  
7
Id. at 17749, para. 235; 47 C.F.R. § 54.318.
8
Id. at 17751, 17753, para. 238, 243.
9
Wireline Competition Bureau Announces the Results of Urban Rate Survey for Voice Services; Seeks Comment on 
Petition for Extension of Time to Comply with New Rate Floor, WC Docket No. 10-90, Public Notice, 29 FCC Rcd 
2967 (Wireline Comp. Bur. 2014).
10
Wireline Competition Bureau Announces Posting of Voice Data from Urban Rate Survey, and Explanatory Notes, 
WC Docket No. 10-90, 29 FCC Rcd 3892 (Wireline Comp. Bur. 2014).
11
April 2014 Connect America Order/FNPRM, 29 FCC Rcd at 7075-82, paras. 73-86. 
12
Joint Petition at 7.
13
Id. at 8-9.
14
USTelecom Petition at 4-6.
15
See id.
16
See id. at 6-8.
17
See id. at 6-7.
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III. DISCUSSION
A. Joint Petition
5. The Joint Petition constitutes an untimely petition for reconsideration of the USF/ICC 
Transformation Order.  The Rural Associations admit that they are not seeking reconsideration of the 
Commission’s decision in the April 2014 Connect America Order/FNPRM to phase in more gradually 
support reductions related to the rate floor.
18
  Instead, they are seeking reconsideration of the decision to 
set the rate floor at the national urban average, rather than at one or two standard deviations below that 
average.
19
  The decision to use an average rather than some standard deviation below the average was 
made by the Commission in the 2011 USF/ICC Transformation Order.  The window for requesting 
reconsideration of that Order closed over two years ago.  Thus, the Joint Petition is untimely.
20
6. The Rural Associations contend that they are not challenging the USF/ICC 
Transformation Order, but rather they “seek reconsideration of the [April 2014 Connect America 
Order/FNPRM] insofar as it reaffirms the Bureau’s use of a weighted averaging method to produce the 
rate floor.”
21
  This argument is unavailing.  A petition under section 1.429 may only seek reconsideration 
of a “final action.”
22
  A reaffirmation, or restatement, of a previously adopted rule does not constitute a 
“final action” from which reconsideration can be sought and has no independent legal significance.  To 
decide otherwise would subject a rule to reconsideration any time the rule was mentioned or described in 
a subsequent Commission order.  
7. To the extent that the Joint Petition is seeking reconsideration or review of the Bureau’s 
calculation of the weighted average, it still fails.  The Bureau did not adopt use of the average urban rate 
for the rate floor; that decision was made by the Commission.
23
  As the Commission has previously 
stated, the Bureau’s implementation of Commission decisions does not reopen those earlier Commission 
decisions.
24
  Even if the Bureau had made such a decision on delegated authority, the deadline to seek 
reconsideration of that decision passed on May 19, 2014.  
8. For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the Joint Petition is an untimely petition for 
reconsideration of the USF/ICC Transformation Order and is dismissed.  
B. USTelecom Petition
9. USTelecom’s request that the Commission refrain from conducting its annual Urban Rate 
Survey until the phase-in of support reductions is complete constitutes an untimely request for 
reconsideration of the USF/ICC Transformation Order.
25
To support its argument, USTelecom points to 
the Commission’s directive to the Bureau in the April 2014 Connect America Order/FNPRM to conduct 
the Urban Rate Survey by a specified time each year for the next several years so as to announce the rate 
                                                     
18
Joint Petition at 6 (“This Petition does not seek reconsideration of the Commission’s decision to phase-in support 
reductions associated with the urban rate floor.”).
19
Id. at 7.
20
Petitions for reconsideration must be filed within 30 days from the date of public notice of the Commission’s 
action.  47 C.F.R. § 1.429(d).
21
Id.
22
47 C.F.R. § 1.429(a).
23
See April 2014 Connect America Order/FNPRM, 29 FCC Rcd at 7075-82, paras. 73-86.
24
Id. at 7086, para. 102 (“[R]eview of a Bureau decision implementing a Commission directive may not be used as a 
vehicle to seek reconsideration of the Commission’s earlier decision.”).
25
USTelecom Petition at 4-6.
Federal Communications Commission DA 14-1882
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floor in a timely fashion.
26
  However, the Commission merely was specifying when in the calendar year 
the Urban Rate Survey should occur, rather than whether the Survey should occur on an annual basis.
27
  
The 2011 USF/ICC Transformation Order directed the Bureau and the Wireless Telecommunications 
Bureau to conduct the Urban Rate Survey on an annual basis.
28
  Therefore, the window for requesting 
reconsideration of the Commission’s decision to conduct the Urban Rate Survey on an annual basis 
closed over two years ago, and USTelecom’s request for reconsideration of the issue is untimely.
29
10. Finally, USTelecom asserts that the Commission should include both “vacation lines” 
and “warm lines” within its waiver of section 54.318(i) support reductions.
30
  To ensure that support 
reductions for rates below the rate floor do not negatively affect Lifeline customers, the Commission 
waived application of section 54.318(i) for lines provided to customers enrolled in the Lifeline program.
31
  
However, the Commission has never considered whether the waiver of the application of section 
54.318(i) should include either “vacation lines” or “warm lines”
32
nor can we find any reference to 
“vacation lines” or “warm lines” in the record of this proceeding. Because these issues have not been 
raised in the record and the Commission has had no opportunity to address these arguments, the petition 
for reconsideration of this issue is dismissed pursuant section 1.429(l)(2) of the Commission’s rules.
33
  
11. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to the authority in sections 0.91 and 1.429 of 
the Commission’s rules, 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.91, 1.429, that the Rural Associations’ Petition for 
Reconsideration filed by the National Exchange Carrier Association et al. is DISMISSED as untimely.
12. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED pursuant to the authority in sections 0.91 and 1.429 of the 
Commission’s rules, 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.91, 1.429, that the Petition for Reconsideration filed by the United 
States Telecom Association is DISMISSED as described herein.
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Julie A. Veach  
Chief
Wireline Competition Bureau
                                                     
26
See id. at 5; see also April 2014 Connect America Order/FNPRM, 29 FCC Rcd at 7079, para. 80.
27
In directing the Bureau to determine the time in which the Urban Rate Survey should take place, the Commission 
stated “[e]ffective July 1, 2016, the rate floor will be determined by the next urban rate survey. We direct the Bureau 
to conduct the next survey in sufficient time to announce the results in early 2015 and to announce the 2016 rate 
floor no later than January 31, 2016.”  See April 2014 Connect America Order/FNPRM, 29 FCC Rcd at 7081, para. 
84.
28
See USF/ICC Transformation Order, 26 FCC Rcd at 17694, para. 85.
29
Petitions for reconsideration must be filed within 30 days from the date of public notice of the Commission’s 
action.  47 C.F.R. § 1.429(d).
30
USTelecom Petition at 6-8.  To the extent that the USTelecom Petition could be viewed as a request for waiver, 
there is insufficient information to determine whether the waiver standard is met.
31
See April 2014 Connect America Order/FNPRM, 29 FCC Rcd at 7081, para. 85.
32
See id.
33
47 C.F.R. § 1.429(l)(2).