Federal Communications Commission DA 26-195 DA 26-195 Released: February 26, 2026 DOMESTIC SECTION 214 APPLICATION GRANTED FOR THE TRANSFER OF CONTROL OF HAYNEVILLE HOLDING COMPANY, INC. TO SYNERGY TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS, INC. WC Docket No. 25-312 By this Public Notice, the Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) grants, as conditioned, an application filed by The Stockholders of Hayneville Holding Company, Inc. (Hayneville Stockholders) and Synergy Technology Partners, Inc. (Synergy) (together, Applicants), pursuant to section 214(a) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, and section 63.04 of the Commission’s rules, See 47 U.S.C. § 214(a); 47 CFR § 63.04. requesting Commission consent for the transfer of control of Hayneville Holding Company, Inc. (Hayneville Holding) and its subsidiaries, Hayneville Telephone Company, Inc. (Hayneville Telephone) and Hayneville Fiber Transport, Inc., d/b/a Camellia Communications (Hayneville Fiber), from Hayneville Stockholders to Synergy. Domestic Section 214 Application for the Transfer of Control of Hayneville Holding Company, Inc. to Synergy Technology Partners, Inc., WC Docket No. 25-312 (filed Nov. 14, 2025) (Application). Applicants filed a supplement to the Application on December 17, 2025. Letter from John Kuykendall, Regulatory Advisor for Applicants, to Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary, FCC, WC Docket No. 25-312 (filed Dec. 17, 2025) (Supplement). Applicants also filed applications for the transfer of authorizations associated with international services. Any action on the domestic 214 application is without prejudice to Commission action on other related, pending applications. On January 15, 2026, the Bureau released a public notice seeking comment on the Application. See Domestic Section 214 Application Filed for the Transfer of Control of Hayneville Holding Company, Inc. to Synergy Technology Partners, Inc., WC Docket No. 25-312, Public Notice, DA 26-52 (WCB 2026). The Bureau did not receive any comments or petitions in opposition to the Application. Hayneville Holding, an Alabama corporation, is the parent company that holds Hayneville Fiber and Hayneville Telephone. Application at 4-5, 11. Hayneville Telephone, an Alabama corporation, is an incumbent local exchange carrier (LEC) providing traditional voice service, long-distance, and broadband services to rural customers in central Alabama across the Hayneville, Lowndesboro, and Gordonsville exchanges in Lowndes County. Id. at 5, 13. Hayneville Telephone, a designated Eligible Telecommunications Carrier (ETC), receives Connect America Fund Broadband Loop Support (CAF-BLS) and High Cost Loop Support (HCLS) as a cost company. Id. at 5, 7-8; High Cost Support Projected by State by Study Area - 2Q2026, https://www.usac.org/about/reports-orders/fcc-filings/#results. Hayneville Telephone also participates in the Lifeline program and will continue to do so post-consummation of the transaction. Application at 6-8. Cost companies are incumbent LECs that receive compensation for interstate telecommunications services based on their actual interstate investment and expenses, calculated from detailed cost studies. See Nemont Telephone Cooperative, Inc., Missouri Valley Communications, Inc., Reservation Telephone Cooperative and Citizens Telecommunications Company of North Dakota, Order, 18 FCC Rcd 838, 848, para. 27 (WCB 2003) (Nemont Order). Hayneville Fiber, an Alabama corporation and designated ETC, is a wholesale telecommunications company that specializes in fiber-based wholesale interconnectivity and transport services. Application at 5-6, 13. Hayneville Fiber participates in the Lifeline program and will continue to do so post-consummation of the transaction. Id. at 6-8. Hayneville Fiber operates a fiber network spanning over 500 miles primarily along the I-65 corridor between Montgomery and Mobile, Alabama. Id. at 5-6. Synergy, a Tennessee corporation, provides telecommunications and information services through its subsidiary, Ardmore Telephone Company Inc. (ATC). Id. at 3-4, 11. ATC, an incumbent LEC in northern Alabama, serves more than 8,000 customers in Alabama and Tennessee across Giles, Limestone, Lincoln, and Madison counties with Internet, security, and voice services. Id. at 4. ATC serves more than 15,000 locations and has expanded its fiber infrastructure in the New Market, Elkmont, Ardmore, McBurg, and Minor Hill exchanges. Id. ATC, a designated ETC, receives CAF BLS and High Cost Loop support as a cost company in Alabama. Id. at 4, 7. ATC also participates in the Lifeline program. Id. Synergy is a wholly owned subsidiary of Western Kentucky Rural Telephone Cooperative Corporation, Inc. (WK&T), a member-owned telecommunications cooperative. Id. at 3-4. WK&T operates as an incumbent LEC in Kentucky and receives Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model (Enhanced A-CAM) support for its incumbent LEC operations in that state. Id. at 4, 7. WK&T also operates as an incumbent LEC in Tennessee and receives CAF-BLS and HCLS as an average schedule company Average schedule companies are those incumbent LECs that receive compensation for use of their interstate common carrier services on the basis of formulas that are designed to simulate the disbursements that would be received by a cost company that is representative of average schedule companies. See Nemont Order, 18 FCC Rcd at 848, para. 27. for its incumbent LEC operations in that state. Application at 4, 7. WK&T also receives HCLS. High Cost Support Projected by State by Study Area - 2Q2026, https://www.usac.org/about/reports-orders/fcc-filings/#results. Additionally, WK&T has competitive LEC operations in the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Illinois and receives Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) support in portions of its competitive LEC service territories in those states. Id. WK&T also participates in the Lifeline program in the areas where it receives high-cost universal service support. Id. at 7. Consistent with their reporting on the National Broadband Map, Applicants note that there is no overlap of service areas between Applicants and their affiliates. Supplement at 1; National Broadband Map (NBM) data as of June 30, 2025, https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/data-download/nationwide-data. Pursuant to the terms of the proposed transaction, the Hayneville Stockholders and Synergy entered into a purchase agreement where, subject to regulatory approvals, Synergy agreed to acquire a 100% interest in Hayneville Holding, including all ownership interests in Hayneville Telephone and Hayneville Fiber. Application at 6. Applicants state, upon consummation of the proposed transaction, Hayneville Holding and its subsidiaries will continue to exist and operate under the same name and will continue to provide service in their respective service areas. Id. Applicants assert that a grant of the Application would serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity Id. at 9-10. and request approval to consummate a transaction involving companies that receive high-cost universal service support under the different support mechanisms of fixed support and cost-based support (a mixed support transaction). Id. at 8-9. Specifically, WK&T, Synergy’s parent company, which receives fixed support, Id. at 7 (indicating WK&T receives fixed support in the form of Enhanced A-CAM and RDOF support). is acquiring Hayneville Telephone, which receives cost-based support. Id. (indicating Hayneville Telephone receives CAF BLS support as a cost company); High Cost Support Projected by State by Study Area - 2Q2026, https://www.usac.org/about/reports-orders/fcc-filings/#results (indicating Hayneville Telephone receives HCLS support). The Commission has found that this type of transaction could result in potential harm to its goal of ensuring that limited universal service funding is distributed efficiently and effectively. 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 18-52, Memorandum Opinion and Order, 33 FCC Rcd 4780, 4784, para. 19 (2018) (Hargray/ComSouth Order). When a company receiving a fixed level of support acquires or is acquired by a cost company, the combined companies could, and in some instances are likely to, shift costs from the fixed support company to the cost company. Id. at 4785-86, para. 20. If cost shifting were to occur, the combined company, post-transaction, could obtain more high-cost universal service support than the two companies did as separate entities, not because of any new investment, expense, or buildout, but rather solely because of the application of accounting procedures. Id. Such an outcome is inconsistent with the Commission’s general expectation that transactions generate efficiencies that reduce the combined company’s costs. Id. Moreover, providing additional universal service support to a company as a result of cost shifting solely because it acquired or merged with another company is not an efficient use of limited universal service resources. Id. at 4786, para. 21. In the Hargray/ComSouth Order, in which the Commission approved a mixed support transaction, it sought to prevent cost shifting and to protect the finite resources of the high-cost universal service fund by imposing a limited condition that capped high-cost universal service support based on the operating expenses of cost companies. Id. at 4788-90, paras. 26-31. The Commission directed the Bureau to apply the Hargray/ComSouth condition where necessary to remedy a potential public interest harm caused by a mixed support transaction. Id. at 4789 n.72 (“We direct the Bureau to apply the condition where necessary to remedy a potential public interest harm caused by a mixed support transaction.”); see also Domestic Section 214 Application for the Transfer of Control of Lavaca Telephone Company, Inc. to Dobson Technologies Inc., WC Docket No. 20-389, Order on Reconsideration, 36 FCC Rcd 8859, 8864, para. 14 (2021) (reaffirming the Commission’s delegation to the Bureau to continue to apply the mixed support condition where necessary). Accordingly, to mitigate the potential for cost shifting, we grant the Application subject to the condition adopted in the Hargray/ComSouth Order. Hargray/ComSouth Order, 33 FCC Rcd at 4788-90, paras. 26-31. The combined operating expenses of all cost company affiliates (covered companies) and any future acquired cost company affiliates See 47 U.S.C. § 153(2). shall be capped at the averaged combined operating expenses of the three calendar years preceding the transaction’s closing date for which the operating expense data are available. The cap applies to cost recovery under both CAF-BLS and HCLS and will be applied proportionately to each affiliate’s accounts used to determine the affiliate’s eligible operating expense for HCLS and CAF-BLS. Hargray/ComSouth Order, 33 FCC Rcd at 4788-89, paras. 27-28. The cap will apply to the combined operating expenses of cost company rate-of-return affiliates of the post-consummation company and any other existing rate-of-return affiliates that it may acquire during the time in which the condition is in effect (together, covered entities). To allow for the monitoring of compliance with the Hargray/ComSouth condition, we direct the covered entities to submit their relevant cost data to the National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA), to the extent the entities do not already do so. We direct NECA to provide the dollar amount of the operating expense costs that will be capped pursuant to this Public Notice to the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) within 30 days following submission of any covered entity’s cost data. We further direct NECA to provide USAC with the reductions in CAF-BLS and HCLS for any covered entity pursuant to this Public Notice for each year following the effective date of this Public Notice. USAC shall validate all calculations received from NECA before making disbursements subject to any such support reductions. We also direct all covered entities to provide USAC with an annual certification of compliance on or before December 31 of each year for the duration of the condition. With the certification, each covered entity must also submit its latest audited financial statements to USAC, including all notes and consolidating statements, on an annual basis, by December 31 of each year.  Id. at 4790, para. 31. The cap will apply to cost recovery under CAF-BLS and HCLS and will be applied proportionately to each affiliate’s accounts used to determine the affiliate’s eligible operating expense for CAF-BLS and for HCLS. For example, if the cap requires that a post-consummation company’s eligible operating expense be reduced by 10%, then each account used to determine each rate-of-return affiliate’s eligible operating expenses shall be reduced by 10%. For purposes of this cap, operating expenses shall include maintenance, network support/network operations/general, benefits, rent expenses, and corporate operations, while depreciation, return on investment, and taxes shall be excluded. See id. at 4789, para. 28. For all covered entities, the new cap shall also include an annual adjustment for inflation based on the Gross Domestic Product-Channel Price Index (GDP-CPI) for the years in which the new cap remains in effect. Id. at 4790, para. 30. Synergy acknowledges its obligation to comply with the Hargray/ComSouth condition. See Application at 8-9. This cap shall remain in effect for seven years from the consummation of the transaction. The Commission found seven years to be an appropriate period over which to monitor enforcement of the condition and to ensure that the combined entity, which will continue to receive support, does not shift costs from year-to-year. Hargray/ComSouth Order, 33 FCC Rcd at 4789-90, para. 29 n.78. Moreover, if an average schedule company affiliate converts to a cost company, the Hargray/ComSouth condition will be triggered for this company. The potential conversion of an average schedule company to a cost company constitutes a transaction-specific harm because the conversion would trigger anew the cost shifting incentives that the Hargray/ComSouth condition was designed to limit, a potential that the Commission expressly recognized in the Hargray/ComSouth Order. Hargray/ComSouth Order, 33 FCC Rcd at 4789 n.72 (directing the Bureau “to apply the condition where necessary to remedy a potential public interest harm caused by a mixed support transaction,” and “to a merger between an average schedule company and a model-based support company, and in such cases the condition would be triggered if the average schedule company converts to a cost company.”); see 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, 6787-88 (WCB 2018) (granting, subject to the Hargray/ComSouth condition, transfers of control involving average schedule companies and fixed support companies) (Average Schedule Grant Public Notice). 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 to create a new combined capped operating expense. If it has not previously done so, WK&T, if it becomes a newly converted cost company, must submit its prior three years of operating expense data to the National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA). NECA will then (1) validate and calculate that company’s average operating expense for those three years and (2) combine this three-year averaged capped operating expense with the current year’s inflation-adjusted operating expense data of any other affiliated cost companies to calculate the new total combined operating expense at which the newly converted and other cost-company affiliates will be capped. The new combined, capped operating expense will then be applied to determine HCLS and CAF-BLS. If the actual three-year operating expense average cannot be calculated for the newly converted cost company, NECA, in consultation with the Bureau, will use estimates based on NECA’s average schedule support formula. 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) (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 support companies). The condition will sunset if all of a post-consummation company’s rate-of-return affiliates become fixed support companies at any point during the seven-year period. Hargray/ComSouth Order, 33 FCC Rcd at 4789-90, para. 29. We find, upon consideration of the record, that granting the Application, subject to compliance with the condition, will serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity. See 47 U.S.C. § 214(a). Therefore, pursuant to section 214 of the Act, 47 U.S.C. § 214, and sections 0.91, 0.291, and 63.04 of the Commission’s rules, 47 CFR §§ 0.91, 0.291, and 63.04, the Bureau hereby grants the Application discussed in this Public Notice subject to compliance with the condition described above. We direct Applicants to submit in the domestic section 214 docket a notice that the proposed transaction has closed with the consummation date and also provide a courtesy copy of the notice to hcinfo@usac.org. Applicants must also submit a copy of the consummation notice via email to Megan.Danner@fcc.gov and Nissa.Laughner@fcc.gov. These filings must be submitted within 30 days of the consummation. Pursuant to section 1.103 of the Commission’s rules, 47 CFR § 1.103, the grant is effective upon release of this Public Notice. Petitions for reconsideration under section 1.106 or application for review under section 1.115 of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR §§ 1.106, 1.115, may be filed within 30 days of the date of this Public Notice. For further information, please contact Megan Danner, Competition Policy Division, Wireline Competition Bureau, at Megan.Danner@fcc.gov or (202) 418-1151. -FCC- 2