§54.316. Broadband deployment reporting and certification requirements for high-cost recipients.
47 C.F.R. § 54.316
Broadband deployment reporting. Rate-of Return ETCs, ETCs that elect to receive Connect America Phase II model-based support, competitive ETCs receiving mobile support from the Alaska Connect Fund, and ETCs awarded support to serve fixed locations through a competitive bidding process shall have the following broadband reporting obligations:
Recipients of high-cost support with defined broadband deployment obligations pursuant to § 54.308(a) or (c) or § 54.310(c) shall provide to the Administrator information regarding the locations to which the eligible telecommunications carrier is offering broadband service in satisfaction of its public interest obligations, as defined in either § 54.308 or § 54.309.
Recipients subject to the requirements of § 54.308(a)(1) shall report the number of locations for each state and locational information, including geocodes, separately indicating whether they are offering service providing speeds of at least 4 Mbps downstream/1 Mbps upstream, 10 Mbps downstream/1 Mbps upstream, and 25 Mbps downstream/3 Mbps upstream.
Recipients subject to the requirements of § 54.308(a)(2) shall report the number of newly served locations for each study area and locational information, including geocodes, separately indicating whether they are offering service providing speeds of at least 4 Mbps downstream/1 Mbps upstream, 10 Mbps downstream/1 Mbps upstream, and 25 Mbps downstream/3 Mbps upstream.
Recipients subject to the requirements of § 54.310(c) shall report the number of locations for each state and locational information, including geocodes, where they are offering service at the requisite speeds. Recipients of Connect America Phase II auction support shall also report the technology they use to serve those locations.
Recipients subject to the requirements of § 54.308(c) shall report the number of newly deployed and upgraded locations and locational information, including geocodes, where they are offering service providing speeds they committed to in their adopted performance plans pursuant to § 54.306(b).
Recipients subject to the requirements of § 54.308(c) or § 54.317(e) shall submit fiber network maps or microwave network maps covering eligible areas. At the end of any calendar year for which middle-mile facilities were deployed, these recipients shall also submit updated maps showing middle-mile facilities that are or will be used to support their services in eligible areas.
Recipients subject to the requirements of § 54.1506 shall report the number of locations for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and locational information, including geocodes, where they are offering service at the requisite speeds. Recipients shall also report the technologies they use to serve those locations.
Recipients subject to the requirements of § 54.802(c) shall report the number of locations for each state and locational information, including geocodes, where they are offering service at the requisite speeds. Recipients of Rural Digital Opportunity Fund support shall also report the technology they use to serve those locations.
Recipients subject to the requirements of § 54.308(a)(3) shall report the number of locations for each state and locational information, including geocodes, indicating whether they are offering service providing speeds of at least 100 Mbps downstream/20 Mbps upstream.
Mobile providers subject to the requirements of § 54.318 shall submit backhaul and middle mile maps covering eligible areas. At the end of any calendar year for which backhaul and middle-mile facilities were deployed, these recipients shall also submit updated maps showing backhaul and middle-mile facilities that are or will be used to support their services in eligible areas. Where the recipient leases links, the recipient must provide the name of the middle-mile provider(s) that the recipient leases links from per area.
Broadband deployment certifications. ETCs that receive support to serve fixed locations shall have the following broadband deployment certification obligations:
[Reserved]
Rate-of-return carriers electing CAF-ACAM support pursuant to § 54.311, other than Enhanced A-CAM carriers, shall provide:
No later than March 1, 2021, and every year thereafter ending on no later than March 1, 2029, a certification that by the end of the prior calendar year, it was offering broadband meeting the requisite public interest obligations specified in § 54.308 to the required percentage of its fully funded locations in the state, pursuant to the interim deployment milestones set forth in § 54.311(d).
No later than March 1, 2027, a certification that as of December 31, 2026, it was offering broadband meeting the requisite public interest obligations specified in § 54.308(a)(1) to all of its fully funded locations in the state and to the required percentage of its capped locations in the state.
Rate-of-return carriers receiving support pursuant to subparts K and M of this part shall provide:
No later than March 1, 2024, a certification that it fulfilled the deployment obligation meeting the requisite public interest obligations as specified in § 54.308(a)(2) to the required number of locations as of December 31, 2023.
Every subsequent five-year period thereafter, a certification that it fulfilled the deployment obligation meeting the requisite public interest obligations as specified in § 54.308(a)(2)(iv).
Recipients of Connect America Phase II auction support, including recipients of support made available through the New York's New NY Broadband Program, shall provide, no later than March 1, 2023, and on March 1 every year thereafter ending March 1, 2026, a certification that by the end of the prior calendar year, it was offering broadband meeting the requisite public interest obligations specified in § 54.309 to the required percentage of its supported locations in each state as set forth in § 54.310(c).
Recipients of Rural Digital Opportunity Fund support shall provide: No later than March 1 following each service milestone specified by the Commission, a certification that by the end of the prior support year, it was offering broadband meeting the requisite public interest obligations to the required percentage of its supported locations in each state.
A rate-of-return carrier authorized to receive Alaska Plan support pursuant to § 54.306 shall provide:
No later than March 1, 2022 a certification that it fulfilled the deployment obligations and is offering service meeting the requisite public interest obligations as specified in § 54.308(c) to the required number of locations as of December 31, 2021.
No later than March 1, 2027 a certification that it fulfilled the deployment obligations and is offering service meeting the requisite public interest obligations as specified in § 54.308(c) to the required number of locations as of December 31, 2026.
Recipients of Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund Stage 2 fixed and Connect USVI Fund fixed Stage 2 fixed support shall provide: no later than March 1 following each service milestone in § 54.1506, a certification that by the end of the prior support year, it was offering broadband meeting the requisite public interest obligations specified in § 54.1507 to the required percentage of its supported locations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands as set forth in § 54.1506. The annual certification shall quantify the carrier's progress toward or, as applicable, completion of deployment in accordance with the resilience and redundancy commitments in its application and in accordance with the detailed network plan it submitted to the Wireline Competition Bureau.
Enhanced A-CAM carriers shall provide, no later than March 1 following each service milestone specified in § 54.311(d)(3), a certification that by the end of the prior calendar year, it was offering broadband meeting the requisite public interest obligations to the required percentage of its required locations in the state.
Filing deadlines. In order for a recipient of high-cost support to continue to receive support for the following calendar year, or retain its eligible telecommunications carrier designations, it must submit the annual reporting information by March 1 as described in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section. ETCs that file their reports after the March 1 deadline shall receive a reduction in support pursuant to the following schedule:
An ETC that certifies after the March 1 deadline, but by March 8, will have its support reduced in an amount equivalent to seven days in support.
An ETC that certifies on or after March 9 will have its support reduced on a pro-rata daily basis equivalent to the period of non-compliance, plus the minimum seven-day reduction.
An ETC that certifies the information required by this section within 4 business days of March 1 will not receive a reduction in support if the ETC and its holding company, operating companies, and affiliates as reported pursuant to § 54.313(a)(4) in their report due July 1 of the prior year, have not missed the deadline in any prior year.
Any support reductions resulting from a failure to timely make required filing pursuant to this section shall be applied in the next month following the notice of support reduction to the eligible telecommunications carrier from the Administrator or as soon as feasible thereafter.
Reporting locations pursuant to paragraph (a)(1) of this section after the March 1st annual deadline.
An ETC that did not report and certify specific locations by March 1 of the year following the year in which the locations were deployed (late-reported locations) may report and certify those locations in a future year for the purpose of counting those locations toward fulfillment of future defined deployment obligations and/or for curing any noncompliance with such obligations in accordance with the terms of § 54.320. To do so, the ETC must indicate that the late-reported locations are being filed for this purpose.
An ETC filing late-reported locations will be subject to a reduction in support calculated by multiplying the following numbers:
The per diem per location support received by the ETC, subject to a maximum per-day, per-location reduction of seven dollars.
The number of days between the March 1 deadline for the reporting year in which the late-reported locations were deployed and the date that the ETC reported, certified, and indicated that the location should be counted toward defined deployment obligations, subject to a 15 day limit if the late-reported locations are filed as of the next reporting deadline after the locations should have been filed and at 30 day limit if the late-reported locations are filed at any time thereafter (for each instance of late reporting).
The number of late-reported locations as a percentage of the total number of locations that the ETC filed for the reporting year in which the untimely filed location should have been reported.
If an ETC has not reported any untimely locations previously, the ETC is not subject to the reduction in support specified in paragraph (d)(2) of this section for a number of untimely reported locations deployed in any single year constituting 5% or less of the ETC's reported locations for the relevant reporting year.
If an ETC has not reported any late-reported locations previously and the ETC filed a timely annual report, the ETC may amend the annual filing to include additional locations within four business days of the reporting deadline without being subject to the reduction in support specified in paragraph (d)(2) of this section.
The reduction in support for the filing of the late-reported locations shall be applied in the next month following the notice of support reduction to the eligible telecommunications carrier from the Administrator or as soon as feasible thereafter.
Notes, amendments, and revision history
Amendments
[81 FR 24341, Apr. 25, 2016, as amended at 81 FR 44451, July 7, 2016; 81 FR 69713, Oct. 7, 2016; 82 FR 14340, Mar. 20, 2017; 84 FR 4732, Feb. 19, 2019; 84 FR 59964, Nov. 7, 2019, 85 FR 13798, Mar. 10, 2020; 87 FR 13948, Mar. 11, 2022; 88 FR 55937, Aug. 17, 2023; 89 FR 25161, Apr. 10, 2024; 89 FR 107229, Dec. 31, 2024; 91 FR 20375, Apr. 16, 2026]
Authority
Authority: 47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i), 155, 201, 205, 214, 219, 220, 229, 254, 303(r), 403, 1004, 1302, 1601-1609, and 1752, unless otherwise noted.
Source
Source: 62 FR 32948, June 17, 1997, unless otherwise noted.
Amendments
[81 FR 24341, Apr. 25, 2016, as amended at 81 FR 44451, July 7, 2016; 81 FR 69713, Oct. 7, 2016; 82 FR 14340, Mar. 20, 2017; 84 FR 4732, Feb. 19, 2019; 84 FR 59964, Nov. 7, 2019, 85 FR 13798, Mar. 10, 2020; 87 FR 13948, Mar. 11, 2022; 88 FR 55937, Aug. 17, 2023; 89 FR 25161, Apr. 10, 2024; 89 FR 107229, Dec. 31, 2024; 91 FR 20375, Apr. 16, 2026]