Federal Communications Commission DA 20-57 DA 20-57 Released: January 13, 2020 WIRELINE COMPETITION BUREAU ANNOUNCES DEADLINE OF MARCH 1, 2021 FOR CERTAIN RATE-OF-RETURN CARRIERS RECEIVING CONNECT AMERICA FUND BROADBAND LOOP SUPPORT (CAF-BLS) TO REPORT BROADBAND LOCATION INFORMATION FOR PRE-EXISTING DEPLOYMENT WC Docket No. 10-90 By this Public Notice, the Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) provides guidance to certain rate-of-return Connect America Fund recipients regarding their obligation to report geo-located broadband information and make deployment certifications to the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). Specifically, those carriers receiving CAF-BLS that did not have High Cost Universal Service Broadband portal (HUBB) reporting obligations prior to the Commission’s 2018 Rate-of-Return Reform Order Connect America Fund, et al., WC Docket No. 10-90, et al., Report and Order, Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, and Order on Reconsideration, 33 FCC Rcd 11893 (2018) (2018 Rate-of-Return Reform Order). will be required to submit geo-located broadband deployment information in the HUBB by March 1, 2021 for all locations to which broadband service of 25/3 Mbps or greater has been deployed since May 25, 2016. The Commission has authority to collect this information pursuant to OMB Control No. 3060-1228. See 84 FR 61829 (Nov. 14, 2019). In the 2016 Rate-of-Return Reform Order, the Commission directed rate-of-return carriers to file geo-located broadband information in the HUBB for locations to which broadband had been newly deployed. See Connect America Fund et al., Report and Order et al., 31 FCC Rcd 3087, 3163-3169, paras. 209-217 (2016) (2016 Rate-of-Return Reform Order). However, the Commission did not set mandatory deployment obligations for those carriers that had deployed broadband of 10/1 Mbps to 80% or more of their study areas, as determined by FCC Form 477. Thus, those carriers were not required to report geo-located information in the HUBB. Id. at 3152, para. 173. Carriers that had deployed broadband of 10/1 Mbps to 80% or more of their study areas were required to report deployment in FCC Form 481. In December 2018, the Commission determined that carriers receiving CAF-BLS should deploy broadband with a speed of at least 25/3 Mbps and that all CAF-BLS carriers should be subject to deployment and HUBB reporting obligations. 2018 Rate-of-Return Reform Order, 33 FCC Rcd at 11927, para. 111. Because carriers that had deployed broadband of 10/1 Mbps to 80% or more of their study areas had not previously had HUBB reporting obligations, the Commission stated that such carriers would be provided an opportunity to certify 25/3 Mbps or greater locations deployed since May 25, 2016. Id. Although the 25/3 Mbps deployment obligation five-year term runs from January 1, 2019 until December 31, 2023, the Commission determined that all new deployment since May 25, 2016, the effective date of the 2016 Rate-of-Return Reform Order, should count toward each carrier’s deployment obligation. Allowing such carriers until March 1, 2021 to complete their HUBB submissions provides sufficient time to ensure that all pre-existing deployment since May 25, 2016 is properly geo-located. For further information, please contact Suzanne Yelen (Suzanne.Yelen@fcc.gov) of the Wireline Competition Bureau, Telecommunications Access Policy Division, (202) 418-7400. – FCC – 2