[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 21 (Wednesday, January 31, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 6021-6023]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-01634]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 54

[WC Docket No. 10-90; FCC 23-118; FR ID 198698]


Connect America Fund

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final action.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC 
or Commission) defers the commencement of the next five-year deployment 
obligation term for legacy rate-of-return carriers receiving Connect 
America Fund Broadband Loop Support (CAF BLS) in 2024 until January 1, 
2025, while it considers general program reforms.

DATES: The Commission defers the commencement of the next five-year 
deployment obligation term for legacy rate-of-return carriers receiving 
CAF BLS in 2024 effective January 31, 2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, please 
contact, William Layton, Attorney Advisor, Telecommunications Access 
Policy Division, Wireline Competition Bureau, at [email protected] 
or 202-418-7400.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Second 
Report and Order (Order) in WC Docket No. 10-90; adopted on December 
26, 2023, and released on December 27,

[[Page 6022]]

2023. The full text of this document is available at the following 
internet address: https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-defers-next-deployment-term-legacy-high-cost-carriers.

I. Introduction

    1. The Commission hereby defers the commencement of the next five-
year deployment obligation term for legacy rate-of-return carriers 
receiving CAF BLS in 2024 until January 1, 2025, while it considers 
general program reforms in the ongoing Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 
(NPRM), 88 FR 56579, August 18, 2023, proceeding. Legacy carriers will 
remain subject to the Commission's rules, requiring the offering of 
broadband service at actual speeds of at least 25 Mbps downstream/3 
Mbps upstream to the previously determined number of unserved locations 
under the current five-year term that ends on December 31, 2023. 
Deferring the commencement of the next term will maintain the status 
quo as the Commission considers whether to modify deployment 
obligations for CAF BLS recipients going forward, allowing the 
Commission to take into account the effect of awards for broadband 
deployment pursuant to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment 
Program (BEAD Program) or other Federal programs.

II. Discussion

    2. The Commission defers the commencement of the next deployment 
obligation term for CAF BLS recipients by one year, until January 1, 
2025, as described in the NPRM. The deferral will allow the Commission 
to address the future budget and deployment obligations for CAF BLS 
carriers and give the Commission additional time to evaluate the impact 
of BEAD Program and other Federal and state broadband program 
commitments made by eligible providers. This action by no means 
releases legacy carriers from their deployment commitments by the end 
of 2023 under the Commission's rules.
    3. The Commission agrees with those commenters supporting the 
deferral of the next deployment obligation term until January 1, 2025. 
As NTCA--The Rural Broadband Association (NTCA) states, ``[t]his should 
afford time to determine with greater precision where BEAD and other 
programs impose enforceable commitments of their own, leaving it clear 
what remaining locations could then be served at higher levels 
leveraging [CAF BLS] resources.'' Because the ``size, characteristics, 
and broadband needs of the rural service areas . . . will not be 
determinable for some time,'' the Commission should ``monitor broadband 
deployment in the remaining [CAF BLS/high-cost loop support] areas for 
at least one year before embarking upon the consideration of potential 
changes . . . deployment obligations.'' Given the additional time 
needed to ``issue the necessary legacy program revision orders, the 
next five-year term for CAF BLS support should begin no later than 
January 1, 2025.''
    4. The sole commenter objecting to a deferment, the Nebraska Public 
Service Commission, states it will delay ``the deployment of broadband 
infrastructure improvement in these areas.'' The Commission agrees with 
NTCA, however, that the ``benefits of greater coordination and 
potential relief for the future [Universal Service Fund] budget 
outweigh'' such concerns. Although the Commission previously has 
imposed specific broadband deployment obligations on CAF BLS support 
recipients, it concludes that such requirements are not in the public 
interest during the deferral period. In particular, broadband 
deployment obligations for CAF BLS support recipients have reflected a 
carefully-calibrated balancing of measurable broadband deployment 
objectives coupled with appropriate carrier flexibility, and the record 
does not reveal a viable way of similarly accommodating those interests 
in a deferral period. The Commission has recognized that carriers need 
to plan their broadband deployments. Forging ahead with the next 
deployment obligation term under the current rules, or applying other 
deployment obligations specific to a deferral term, even as the 
Commission considers significant changes, would undermine the viability 
of that planning given that both the support levels and ultimate 
deployment obligations would be uncertain over the relevant time 
horizon. The Commission also has recognized rate-of-return CAF BLS 
support recipients' need for flexibility in implementing the associated 
broadband deployment obligations, reflected, for example, in our 
decision to give those carriers flexibility in how they spread their 
deployment efforts out over the course of a deployment term, and in our 
actions to ensure those carriers have a full five-year deployment term 
to fulfill those deployment obligations. The record does not reveal a 
way to similarly achieve those objectives as part of deployment 
obligations for CAF BLS support recipients in 2024, while the 
Commission considers future reforms in that regard. Such near-term 
deployment obligations for CAF BLS support recipients also could lead 
to the inefficient allocation of resources in the event that broadband 
deployment obligations would require them to deploy facilities that 
could not be used efficiently--or at all--to achieve any revised 
broadband deployment obligations that the Commission might adopt. 
Accordingly, the Commission finds the better course is to maintain the 
status quo pending the outcome of the rulemaking proceeding.
    5. The Commission emphasizes, notwithstanding this action, CAF BLS 
recipients, including those that were not authorized for Enhanced 
Alternative Connect America Cost Model (Enhanced A-CAM), remain subject 
to the current December 31, 2023, term deadline and must satisfy their 
broadband service location coverage requirements by that date. Further, 
CAF BLS recipients not authorized for Enhanced A-CAM remain subject to 
the Commission's reporting and certification requirements, including 
the reporting of newly served locations in the High Cost Universal 
Broadband portal, and the Commission's broadband network performance 
testing and certification requirements. Legacy carriers remain eligible 
to receive high-cost support during the deferral period to cover their 
ongoing eligible costs subject to the Commission's monthly per-line cap 
support amount. Carriers are also permitted, but not required, to 
expand their broadband service coverage to unserved locations during 
the deferral period and are expected to at least maintain their 
coverage footprint as of December 31, 2023, as the Commission considers 
future deployment obligations.

III. Procedural Matters

A. Paperwork Reduction Act

    6. This document does not contain new or modified information 
collection requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 
Public Law 104-13. In addition, therefore, it does not contain any new 
or modified information collection burden for small business concerns 
with fewer than 25 employees, pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork 
Relief Act of 2002, Public Law 107-198, see 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(4).

B. Congressional Review Act

    7. The Commission has determined, and the Administrator of the 
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and 
Budget, concurs, that this final action is ``non-major'' under the 
Congressional Review

[[Page 6023]]

Act, 5 U.S.C. 804(2). The Commission will send a copy of the Order to 
Congress and the Government Accountability Office pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 
801(a)(1)(A).
    8. Effective Date. The Commission concludes that good cause exists 
to make the Order effective immediately upon publication in the Federal 
Register, pursuant to section 553(d)(3) of the Administrative Procedure 
Act. Agencies determining whether there is good cause to make effective 
an order less than 30 days after Federal Register publication ``should 
balance the necessity for immediate implementation against principles 
of fundamental fairness, which require that all affected persons be 
afforded reasonable time to prepare for the effective date of is 
ruling.'' In this action, the Commission is deferring the commencement 
of the next deployment obligation term, which would commence on January 
1, 2024, but for the action taken here. The Order therefore does not 
impose new rule obligations that would require preparation by legacy 
rate-of-return carriers but instead delays the commencement of existing 
requirements while the Commission considers rule changes in the ongoing 
rulemaking proceeding. Accordingly, given the timing of the next 
deployment obligation term and that deferment will not require advanced 
preparation by carriers, the Commission finds good cause exists to make 
the Order effective upon publication of a summary in the Federal 
Register.
    9. Final Regulatory Flexibility Certification. The Regulatory 
Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended (RFA), requires an agency to 
prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis for notice-and-comment 
rulemakings, unless the agency certifies the proposed or final rule(s) 
``will not, if promulgated, have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities.'' The RFA generally defines the 
term ``small entity'' as having the same meaning as the terms ``small 
business,'' ``small organization,'' and ``small governmental 
jurisdiction.'' In addition, the term ``small business'' has the same 
meaning as the term ``small business concerns'' under the Small 
Business Act. A ``small business concern'' is one that: (1) is 
independently owned and operated; (2) is not dominant in its field of 
operation; and (3) satisfies any additional criteria established by the 
Small Business Administration (SBA).
    10. As required by the RFA, the Commission incorporated an Initial 
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) in the NPRM, released in July 
2023. The Commission sought written public comment on the proposals in 
the NPRM, including comment on the IFRA. No comments were filed 
addressing the IRFA. The two statutorily-mandated criteria to be 
applied in determining the need for RFA analysis are (1) whether the 
proposed rules, if adopted, would have a significant economic effect, 
and (2) if so, whether the economic effect would directly affect a 
substantial number of small entities. For the reasons discussed below, 
the Commission has determined that the rules and policy changes adopted 
in the Second Report and Order will not have a significant economic 
impact on a substantial number of small entities and has prepared this 
Final Regulatory Flexibility Certification (FRFC).
    11. The Order defers the commencement of the next five-year 
deployment obligation term, until January 1, 2025, for those cost-based 
rate-of-return carriers receiving CAF BLS. Legacy carriers will remain 
subject to the Commission's rules, requiring the offering of broadband 
service at actual speeds of at least 25 Mbps downstream/3 Mbps upstream 
to the previously determined number of unserved locations under the 
current five-year term that ends on December 31, 2023. This will 
maintain the status quo as the Commission considers general program 
reforms in the NPRM proceeding, including whether to modify deployment 
obligations for CAF BLS recipients going forward. Because this action 
delays the commencement of deployment obligations already provided for 
under the Commission's rules, it will not cause any significant 
economic impact on providers, including those which are small entities.
    12. Accordingly, based on the Commission's application of the two 
statutorily-mandated criteria to the rules adopted in the Order, it 
concludes that the adopted rules and policy changes will not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
The Commission therefore certifies that the rules and policy changes 
adopted in the Order will not have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities.
    13. The Commission will send a copy of the Order, including a copy 
of the FRFC, in a report to Congress pursuant to the Congressional 
Review Act. In addition, the Order and the FRFC will be sent to the 
Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the SBA and will be published in the 
Federal Register.

IV. Ordering Clauses

    14. Accordingly, it is ordered, pursuant to the authority contained 
in sections 4(i), 214, 218-220, and 254 of the Communications Act of 
1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 154(i), 214, 218-220, and 254, and 
Sec. Sec.  1.1, 1.3, and 1.425 of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 1.1, 
1.3, and 1.425 the Order is adopted. The Order shall be effective upon 
publication of the text or summary in the Federal Register.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene Dortch,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2024-01634 Filed 1-30-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P