[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 227 (Tuesday, November 25, 2014)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 70113-70115]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-27883]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Chapter I

[WC Docket No. 10-90; DA 14-1569]


Connect America Fund

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Wireline Competition Bureau adopts a 
specific methodology for calculating reasonable comparability 
benchmarks for fixed broadband services. The methodology the Commission 
adopts today establishes reasonable comparability broadband benchmarks 
that vary, depending on the supported service's download and upload 
bandwidths and usage allowance.

DATES: Effective December 26, 2014.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Suzanne Yelen, Telecommunications 
Access Policy Division, Wireline Competition Bureau at (202) 418-0626 
or TTY (202) 418-0484.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a synopsis of the Wireline 
Competition Bureau's Report and Order in WC Docket No. 10-90; DA 14-
1569, released October 29, 2014. The complete text of this document is 
available for inspection and copying during normal business hours in 
the FCC Reference Information Center, Portals II, 445 12th Street SW., 
Room CY-A257, Washington, DC 20554. The document may also be purchased 
from the Commission's duplicating contractor, Best Copy and Printing, 
Inc. (BCPI), 445 12th Street SW., Room CY-B402, Washington, DC 20554, 
telephone (800) 378-3160 or (202) 863-2893, facsimile (202) 863-2898, 
or via the Internet at http://www.bcpiweb.com. It is also available on 
the Commission's Web site at https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-14-1569A1.pdf.

I. Introduction

    1. In this Report and Order (Order), the Wireline Competition 
Bureau (Bureau) adopts a specific methodology for calculating 
reasonable comparability benchmarks for fixed broadband services. In 
the USF/ICC Transformation Order, 76 FR 73830, November 29, 2011, the 
Commission required that as a condition of receiving high-cost support, 
eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) must offer voice and 
broadband services in supported areas at rates that are reasonably 
comparable to rates for similar services in urban areas. The 
methodology we adopt today establishes reasonable comparability 
broadband benchmarks that vary, depending on the supported service's 
download and upload bandwidths and usage allowance. This approach 
recognizes that ETCs may choose to meet their broadband performance 
obligation with a service offering that exceeds the minimum 
requirements in one or more respects. The approach also is sufficiently 
flexible to account for any changes that the Commission may adopt 
regarding the required minimum performance characteristics.
    2. The Bureau notes that because they are announcing the 
methodology late in the calendar year, the results for 2014 are 
illustrative and to inform parties that are potentially interested in 
bidding on Connect America funding for rural broadband experiments in 
the weeks ahead. The Bureau also will take into account the benchmarks 
published below when adjudicating Connect America Phase II challenges. 
The Bureau plans to announce the 2015 reasonable comparability 
benchmarks for fixed broadband services when the Bureau completes our 
analysis of the

[[Page 70114]]

data collected in the annual urban rate survey. The Bureau also waives 
on our own motion implementation of the reasonable comparability 
benchmarks for Alaska carriers for 2015 to allow further time to 
determine whether an alternative methodology should be adopted for 
Alaska.

II. Discussion

    3. The Bureau now adopts a methodology that will be used annually 
to develop reasonable comparability benchmarks for fixed broadband 
services offered to residential and small business customers, using the 
data from the annual urban rate survey. The Bureau adopts its proposal 
to use a weighted linear regression to estimate the mean rate for a 
specific set of service characteristics and then to add two standard 
deviations to this mean to determine the benchmark for services meeting 
those defined service characteristics. Because broadband service has 
multiple characteristics (i.e., download and upload bandwidth, usage 
allowance) that may affect its price, a regression is the most 
straightforward approach to developing an average urban rate that 
appropriately takes into account those varying service characteristics. 
The Bureau will annually develop an average urban rate through a 
regression approach, using data collected from the annual survey, and 
then determine reasonable comparability benchmarks that are two 
standard deviations above the average.
    4. The Bureau adopts the Rural Associations' proposal to develop a 
single regression using a broader sample of observations, ranging in 
download speeds from 2 to 40 Mbps. Given that these benchmarks will be 
applicable to winning bidders in the rural broadband experiments, and 
those ETCs will be offering fixed broadband service to residential and 
small business locations significantly faster than the current 4/1 Mbps 
minimum, the Bureau concludes that it makes sense to include higher 
speed observations in the calculation. In addition, the Bureau 
calculates separate standard deviations for service offerings in the 
vicinity of 4/1 Mbps using observations where the download speed ranged 
from 2 up to 8 Mbps, and for services that exceed 8 Mbps downstream 
using observations with download speeds from 8 to 25 Mbps. The Bureau 
did so because they found that the standard deviation of rate 
differences from the average of services in the 8 to 25 Mbps range was 
higher than the standard deviation for services in the lower speed 
tier. The Bureau concludes that calculating two different standard 
deviations for the lower speed service and the higher speed service 
effectively addresses the Rural Associations' concern that these 
services are differentiated products. The Bureau incorporates this 
approach into the benchmark equations provided below.
    5. In any given year, providers will need to determine the 
appropriate reasonable comparability benchmark based on the 
characteristics of the specific service offered to residential and 
small business customers that they are relying upon to meet their 
broadband performance obligations. To determine the applicable 
benchmark for a given service using the 2014 data, where a service is 
defined by its download, upload, and usage allowance, a provider would 
use equations developed based on the weighted regression methodology. 
For 2014, the equations are as follows:
    For services with download speeds greater than or equal to 4 Mbps 
and less than or equal to 8 Mbps, the equation is

Benchmark = 69.5015 + 0.839703*DOWNLOAD + 1.44127*UPLOAD - 1710.68*K

    For services with download speeds greater than 8 Mbps but less than 
or equal to 25 Mbps, the equation is

Benchmark = 75.6095 + 0.839703*DOWNLOAD + 1.44127*UPLOAD - 1710.68*K

    6. In each equation, the variables DOWNLOAD and UPLOAD must be 
entered in units of Mbps. The variable K equals zero (0) if the service 
has an ``Unlimited'' monthly usage allowance, and the variable K equals 
(1/USAGE ALLOWANCE) if the usage allowance is not unlimited. The 
variable USAGE ALLOWANCE must be entered in the units of GB per month. 
Calculated benchmarks should be rounded up to the nearest cent. 
Examples of benchmark calculations for 2014 are provided below.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                            Reasonable
   Upload speed/  download speed      Usage allowance     comparability
                                                            benchmark
------------------------------------------------------------------------
4/1 Mbps..........................  100 GB.............           $57.20
4/1 Mbps..........................  Unlimited..........            74.31
10/1 Mbps.........................  100 GB.............            68.35
10/1 Mbps.........................  250 GB.............            78.61
10/1 Mbps.........................  Unlimited..........            85.45
25/5 Mbps.........................  250 GB.............            96.97
25/5 Mbps.........................  Unlimited..........           103.81
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    7. To facilitate these calculations, the Bureau will post an Excel 
file and online tool in which providers can plug in the relevant 
variables to determine the benchmark for specific service 
characteristics at http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/urban-rate-survey-data.
    8. Temporary Waiver of Benchmarks for Alaska. On our own motion, 
the Bureau waives implementation of the reasonable comparability 
benchmarks for Alaska carriers for 2015 to allow further time to study 
this issue and determine whether an alternative methodology should be 
adopted for Alaska. The Bureau notes that the Commission has already 
relaxed the broadband public interest standards for carriers providing 
fixed broadband that rely upon satellite backhaul and has held that 
capacity requirements that generally apply will not apply to this 
subset of providers. The Bureau will consider in a future Public Notice 
whether and how to tailor our methodology to the unique circumstances 
of Alaska.
    9. Effect on the Connect America Phase II Challenge Process. In the 
Phase II Service Obligations Order, 78 FR 70881, November 27, 2013, the 
Bureau adopted an interim presumption for rates to use in the Phase II 
challenge process, pending the publication of these reasonable 
comparability benchmarks. For situations where the potential competitor 
does not offer fixed wireline service in urban areas or does not serve 
an area where the incumbent itself offers broadband, the Bureau adopted 
interim benchmarks of $37 for voice service and $60 for broadband 
service to determine whether that competitor was offering reasonably 
comparable rates. The Bureau recognizes that challengers may have 
relied on the $60 interim figure in preparing their challenges, but 
note that parties replying to those challenges are free to present 
evidence that takes into account these announced benchmarks. For 
example, a price cap carrier may have been able to make a prima facie 
challenge that a potential competitor's price is over $60, but that 
competitor may now respond that its particular speed/usage combination 
is in fact reasonably comparable because it meets a benchmark the 
Bureau adopts. The Bureau will consider the totality of the evidence in 
adjudicating these Phase II challenges.

III. Procedural Matters

1. Paperwork Reduction Analysis

    10. The Report and Order does not contain information collection 
requirements required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public 
Law 104-13.

[[Page 70115]]

2. Congressional Review Act

    11. The Commission will not submit this Report and Order pursuant 
to the Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A) because the 
Commission has not yet defined the specific requirements associated 
with the standard adopted in this Report and Order. The Commission 
anticipates that when it does adopt the specific requirements applying 
the standard in this Report and Order, it will make all submissions 
required by the Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A).

IV. Ordering Clause

    12. Accordingly, it is ordered that, pursuant to sections 1, 4(i), 
5(c), 201(b), 214, and 254 of the Communications Act of 1934, as 
amended, and section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, 47 
U.S.C. 151, 154(i), 155(c), 201(b), 214, 254, 1302, sections 0.91 and 
0.291 of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 0.91, 0.291, and the 
delegations of authority in paragraph 113 of the USF/ICC Transformation 
Order, FCC 11-161, this Report and Order is adopted, effective thirty 
(30) days after publication of the text or summary thereof in the 
Federal Register.


Federal Communications Commission.
Alexander A. Minard,
Deputy Chief, Telecommunications Access Policy Division Wireline 
Competition Bureau.
[FR Doc. 2014-27883 Filed 11-24-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P