960619IC.docx

DECISION MEMORANDUM
TO:COMMISSIONER NELSON
COMMISSIONER SMITH
COMMISSIONER HANSEN
MYRNA WALTERS
TONYA CLARK
DON HOWELL
STEPHANIE MILLER
DAVE SCHUNKE
EILEEN BENNER
JOE CUSICK
GARY RICHARDSON
WORKING FILE
FROM:WELDON STUTZMAN
DATE:JUNE 19, 1996
RE:REQUESTS BY SMALL INDEPENDENT TELEPHONE COMPANIES FOR DESIGNATION AS ELIGIBLE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIERS UNDER FEDERAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT
Section 254 of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, (the Act) is labeled “universal service.”  Paragraph (a) of the section sets forth procedures for the Federal Communications Commission to review universal service requirements by creating a federal-state joint board on universal service.  The joint board is to review and recommend changes to FCC regulations relating to universal service, including the universal service support mechanisms and distribution to eligible telephone carriers.  The joint board is required to make recommendations to the FCC within nine months of the date of enactment of the Act.  Thereafter, the FCC is to initiate a proceeding to implement the recommendations and to complete the proceeding within fifteen months after the date of enactment of the Act.  The rules established by the FCC must include a definition of the services that are supported by the federal universal support mechanisms and a specific timetable for implementation.  Section 254(e) then provides that “after the date on which Commission regulations implementing this section take effect, only an eligible telecommunications carrier designated under Section 214(e) shall be eligible to receive specific Federal universal support” (emphasis added).
47 U.S.C. 214 is amended by Section 102 of the Act.  New Section 214(e) also addresses universal service issues, and states that “a common carrier designated as an eligible telecommunications carrier under Paragraph 2 or 3 shall be eligible to receive universal service support in accordance with Section 254. . . .”  Paragraph 2 of Section 214 provides that a “State commission shall upon its own motion or upon request designate a common carrier that meets the requirements of paragraph (1) as an eligible telecommunications carrier for a service area designated by the State commission.”
Since enactment of the Act, the Commission has received requests from PTI (Gem State) and TDS (Troy and Potlatch) asking the Commission to designate them as “eligible telecommunica­tions carriers” as defined by the Act.  The requests focus on Section 214(e) and its statement that a carrier designated as an eligible telecommunications carrier is eligible to receive universal service support.  PTI acknowledges Section 214’s tie to Section 254 and the specific timetable provided in Section 254 for the implementation of new universal service requirements and the eligibility standard but cautions that “it is possible that the above-recited provisions of the Act are, or may be viewed subsequently as having been immediately effective.”
The Commission could issue an Order designating all of Idaho’s LECs as “eligible telecommunications carriers” to remove any concern by the LECs that they must be so designated in order to continue receiving federal universal service support funds.  However, given the process and timetable provided in Section 254, it would be appropriate for the Commission to wait to designate LECs as eligible telecommunications carriers after promulgation of the new FCC regulations.  The Commission Secretary or legal staff could respond to the LEC’s requests, informing them that their request for designation as an eligible telecommunications carrier under the Act is not necessary until after the new FCC regulations take effect next year.
Commission Decision
1.  Should the Commission issue an Order designating the rural LECs in Idaho as “eligible telecommunications carrier?”
2.  Should the Commission provide some other response to the LECs that have requested designation as an eligible telecommunications carrier?
Weldon Stutzman
vld/M:ITCs.ws