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         DA 21-1245
October 4, 2021

NOTICE OF DOMESTIC SECTION 214 AUTHORIZATION GRANTED 

WC Docket No. 21-322

The Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) grants the application listed in this Public Notice pursuant to the Commission’s streamlined procedures for domestic section 214 transfer of control applications, 47 CFR § 63.03.  The Bureau determined that a grant of this application serves the public interest.  Implementation of Further Streamlining Measures for Domestic Section 214 Authorizations, Report and Order, 17 FCC Rcd 5517, 5529, para. 22 (2002).
  For purposes of computation of time when filing a petition for reconsideration or application for review, or for judicial review of the Commission’s decision, the date of “public notice” shall be the release date of this Public Notice.  Id.; see 47 CFR § 1.4 (Computation of time).
  Should no petition for reconsideration, application for review, or petition for judicial review be timely filed, the proceeding listed in this Public Notice shall be terminated, and its docket will be closed.

Domestic Section 214 Application Filed for the Transfer of Control of 
Chesnee Telephone Company, Incorporated to Comporium, Inc., WC Docket No. 21-322, Public Notice, DA 21-1084 (WCB 2021). Applicants state that Chesnee Telephone Company, Incorporated (Chesnee Telephone) receives high cost universal service support as an average schedule company, and that Comporium Inc.’s affiliate, Home Telephone Company, Inc. (Home Telephone), receives model-based support.  Application for Transfer of Control of Domestic 214 Authorization for Chesnee Telephone Company Incorporated d/b/a Chesnee Communications, WC Docket No. 21-322, Attachment A (filed Aug. 9, 2021); Letter from Marjorie Spivack, Counsel for Comporium, Inc., to Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary, FCC, WC Docket No. 21-233 (filed Sept. 29, 2021).  Thus, because Home Telephone is a fixed model-based support company, the potential for a transaction-specific harm exists if Chesnee Telephone converts from an average schedule company to a cost company, thereby triggering an incentive to shift costs from Home Telephone to Chesnee Telephone.  Accordingly, to mitigate the potential for cost shifting, we grant the application subject to the following condition:  if Chesnee Telephone converts to a non-average schedule cost company, that conversion will trigger application of the condition and associated requirements established in the Hargray/ComSouth Order and discussed in the Average Schedule Grant Public Notice.  Joint Application of W. Mansfield Jennings Limited Partnership and Hargray Communications Group, Inc. for Consent to the Transfer of Control of ComSouth Corporation Pursuant to Section 214 of the Communications Act of 1934, WC Docket No. 18-52, Memorandum Opinion and Order, 33 FCC Rcd 4780, 4789, n.72 (2018) (Hargray/ComSouth Order); Domestic Section 214 Applications Granted Subject to Condition, WC Docket Nos. 17-101, 17-365, 18-68, 18-94, 18-95, 18-177, Public Notice, 33 FCC Rcd 6784 (WCB 2018) (Average Schedule Grant Public Notice) (granting, subject to the Hargray/ComSouth condition, transfers of control involving average schedule companies and model-based support companies).  See also Domestic Application Granted for the Transfer of Control of Prairieburg Telephone Company, Incorporated, WC Docket No. 21-3, Public Notice, DA 21-333, at 1 and n.13 (WCB 2021) (Prairieburg Grant Public Notice).   If Chesnee Telephone converts, the newly converted cost company’s operating expense would be capped at the average of the three previous years’ operating expense and combined with the inflation-adjusted operating expense data of any other affiliated cost companies. Prairieburg Grant Public Notice at 1. and n.13.   If Chesnee Telephone converts to a cost company, it must comply with the procedures we have adopted for such conversions.  See Average Schedule Grant Public Notice, 33 FCC Rcd at 6788, n.31; Domestic Section 214 Application Granted Subject to Condition, WC Docket No. 18-129, Public Notice, 33 FCC Rcd 8087, 8089, n.15 (WCB 2018) (Hospers Grant PN) (granting, subject to the Hargray/ComSouth condition, the transfer of Hospers Telephone Exchange, Inc. d/b/a HTC Communications, an average schedule company, to Mutual Telephone Company of Sioux Center Iowa d/b/a Premier Communications, which owns both cost-based and fixed model-based support companies).  We direct Applicants to submit, in the domestic section 214 docket, a notice that the proposed transaction has closed with the consummation date, and provide a courtesy copy of the notice to hcinfo@usac.org. 





Effective Grant Date: October 2, 2021

For further information, please contact Tracey Wilson at (202) 418-1394, or Dennis Johnson at (202) 418-0809, Competition Policy Division, Wireline Competition Bureau.


-FCC-

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