(a) This subpart addresses support for loop-related costs included in § 54.1308. The expense adjustment calculated pursuant to this subpart M shall be added to interstate expenses and deducted from state expenses after expenses and taxes have been apportioned pursuant to subpart D of part 36 of this chapter. Beginning January 1, 2012, this subpart will only apply to incumbent local exchange carriers that are rate-of-return carriers not affiliated, as “affiliated companies” are defined in § 32.9000 of this chapter, with price cap local exchange carriers. Rate-of-return carriers and price cap local exchange carriers are defined pursuant to § 54.5 and § 61.3(bb) of this chapter, respectively.

(b) The expense adjustment will be computed on the basis of data for a preceding calendar year.

[79 FR 39190, July 9, 2014, as amended at 89 FR 25163, Apr. 10, 2024]

(a) Beginning January 1, 2013, and each calendar year thereafter, the total annual amount of the incumbent local exchange carrier portion of the nationwide loop cost expense adjustment shall not exceed the amount for the immediately preceding calendar year, multiplied times one plus the Rural Growth Factor calculated pursuant to § 54.1303. Beginning January 1, 2021, and each calendar year thereafter, the base amount of the nationwide loop cost expense adjustment shall be the annualized amount of the final six months of the preceding calendar year. The total amount of the incumbent local exchange carrier portion of the nationwide loop cost expense adjustment for the first six months of the calendar year shall be the base amount divided by two and for the second six months of the calendar year shall be the base amount divided by two, multiplied times one plus the Rural Growth Factor calculated pursuant to § 54.1303.

(b) The annual rural incumbent local exchange carrier portion of the nationwide loop cost expense adjustment shall be reduced to reflect the transfer of rural incumbent local exchange carrier access lines that are eligible for expense adjustments pursuant to § 54.1310. The reduction shall equal the amount of the § 54.1310 expense adjustment available to the transferred access lines at the time of the transfer and shall be effective in the next calendar quarter after the access lines are transferred.

(c) Safety net additive support calculated pursuant to § 54.1304, and transferred high-cost support and safety valve support calculated pursuant to § 54.305 of this part shall not be included in the rural incumbent local exchange carrier portion of the annual nationwide loop cost expense adjustment.

[79 FR 39190, July 9, 2014, as amended at 89 FR 25163, Apr. 10, 2024]

(a) The Rural Growth Factor (RGF) is equal to the sum of the annual percentage change in the United States Department of Commerce's Gross Domestic Product—Chained Price Index (GPD-CPI) plus the percentage change in the total number of rural incumbent local exchange carrier working loops during the calendar year preceding the July 31st filing submitted pursuant to § 54.1305. The percentage change in total rural incumbent local exchange carrier working loops shall be based upon the difference between the total number of rural incumbent local exchange carrier working loops on December 31 of the calendar year preceding the July 31st filing and the total number of rural incumbent local exchange carrier working loops on December 31 of the second calendar year preceding that filing, both determined by the company's submissions pursuant to § 54.1305. Loops acquired by rural incumbent local exchange carriers shall not be included in the RGF calculation.

(b) Beginning July 31, 2012, pursuant to § 54.1301(a), the calculation of the Rural Growth Factor shall not include price cap carrier working loops and rate-of-return local exchange carrier working loops of companies that were affiliated with price cap carriers during the calendar year preceding the July 31st filing submitted pursuant to § 54.1305.

(a) Safety net additive support. Only those local exchange carriers that qualified for safety net additive based on 2011 or prior year costs shall be eligible to receive safety net additive pursuant to paragraph (c) of this section. A local exchange carrier shall not receive safety net additive unless the carrier's realized total growth in Telecommunications Plant in Service (TPIS) was more than 14 percent in 2011 or earlier, pursuant to paragraph (c) of this section.

(b) Calculation of safety net additive support for companies that qualified based on 2011 or prior year costs. Safety net additive support is equal to the amount of capped support calculated pursuant to this subpart M in the qualifying year minus the amount of support in the year prior to qualifying for support subtracted from the difference between the uncapped expense adjustment for the study area in the qualifying year minus the uncapped expense adjustment in the year prior to qualifying for support as shown in the following equation: Safety net additive support = (Uncapped support in the qualifying year−Uncapped support in the base year)−(Capped support in the qualifying year−Amount of support received in the base year).

(c) Operation of safety net additive support for companies that qualified based on 2011 or prior year costs. (1) In any year in which the total carrier loop cost expense adjustment is limited by the provisions of § 54.1302, a rate-of-return incumbent local exchange carrier shall receive safety net additive support as calculated in paragraph (b) of this section, if in any study area, the rural incumbent local exchange carrier realizes growth in end of period TPIS, as prescribed in § 32.2001, on a per loop basis, of at least 14 percent more than the study area's TPIS per loop investment at the end of the prior period.

(2) If paragraph (c)(1) of this section is met, the rural incumbent local exchange carrier must notify the Administrator; failure to properly notify the Administrator of eligibility shall result in disqualification of that study area for safety net additive, requiring the rural incumbent local exchange carrier to again meet the eligibility requirements in paragraph (c)(1) of this section for that study area in a subsequent period.

(3) Upon completion of verification by the Administrator that the study area meets the stated criterion in paragraphs (a), (b), or (c) of this section, the Administrator shall:

(i) Pay to any qualifying rural telephone company safety net additive support for the qualifying study area in accordance with the calculation set forth in paragraph (b) of this section; and

(ii) Continue to pay safety net additive support in any of the four succeeding years in which the total carrier loop expense adjustment is limited by the provisions of § 54.1302. Safety net additive support in the succeeding four years shall be the lesser of:

(A) The sum of capped support and the safety net additive support received in the qualifying year; or

(B) The rural telephone company's uncapped support.

(a) In order to allow determination of the study areas and wire centers that are entitled to an expense adjustment pursuant to § 54.1310, each incumbent local exchange carrier (LEC) must provide the National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA) (established pursuant to part 69 of this chapter) with the information listed for each study area in which such incumbent LEC operates, with the exception of the information listed in paragraph (h) of this section, which must be provided for each study area. This information is to be filed with NECA by July 31st of each year. Rural telephone companies that acquired exchanges subsequent to May 7, 1997, and incorporated those acquired exchanges into existing study areas shall separately provide the information required by paragraphs (b) through (i) of this section for both the acquired and existing exchanges.

(b) Unseparated, i.e., state and interstate, gross plant investment in Exchange Line Cable and Wire Facilities (C&WF) Subcategory 1.3 and Exchange Line Central Office (CO) Circuit Equipment Category 4.13. This amount shall be calculated as of December 31st of the calendar year preceding each July 31st filing.

(c) Unseparated accumulated depreciation and noncurrent deferred federal income taxes, attributable to Exchange Line C&WF Subcategory 1.3 investment, and Exchange Line CO Circuit Equipment Category 4.13 investment. These amounts shall be calculated as of December 31st of the calendar year preceding each July 31st filing, and shall be stated separately.

(d) Unseparated depreciation expense attributable to Exchange Line C&WF Subcategory 1.3 investment, and Exchange Line CO Circuit Equipment Category 4.13 investment. This amount shall be the actual depreciation expense for the calendar year preceding each July 31st filing.

(e) Unseparated maintenance expense attributable to Exchange Line C&WF Subcategory 1.3 investment and Exchange Line CO Circuit Equipment Category 4.113 investment. This amount shall be the actual repair expense for the calendar year preceding each July 31st filing.

(f) Unseparated corporate operations expenses, operating taxes, and the benefits and rent proportions of operating expenses. The amount for each of these categories of expense shall be the actual amount for that expense for the calendar year preceding each July 31st filing. The amount for each category of expense listed shall be stated separately.

(g) Unseparated gross telecommunications plant investment. This amount shall be calculated as of December 31st of the calendar year preceding each July 31st filing.

(h) Unseparated accumulated depreciation and noncurrent deferred federal income taxes attributable to local unseparated telecommunications plant investment. This amount shall be calculated as of December 31st of the calendar year preceding each July 31st filing.

(i) The number of working loops for each study area. For universal service support purposes, working loops are defined as the number of working Exchange Line C&WF loops used jointly for exchange and message telecommunications service, including C&WF subscriber lines associated with pay telephones in C&WF Category 1, but excluding WATS closed end access and TWX service. These figures shall be calculated as of December 31st of the calendar year preceding each July 31st filing.

(j) The number of consumer broadband-only loops for each study area, as defined in § 54.901(g), calculated as of December 31st of the calendar year preceding each July 31st filing.

[79 FR 39190, July 9, 2014, as amended at 83 FR 18964, May 1, 2018; 89 FR 25163, Apr. 10, 2024]

Link to an amendment published at 89 FR 25163, Apr. 10, 2024.

(a) Any incumbent local exchange carrier subject to § 54.1301(a) may update the information submitted to the National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA) on July 31st pursuant to § 54.1305 one or more times annually on a rolling year basis according to the schedule.

(1) Submit data covering the last nine months of the previous calendar year and the first three months of the existing calendar year no later than September 30th of the existing year;

(2) Submit data covering the last six months of the previous calendar year and the first six months of the existing calendar year no later than December 30th of the existing year;

(3) Submit data covering the last three months of the second previous calendar year and the first nine months of the previous calendar year no later than March 30th of the existing year.

(b) [Reserved]

(a) On October 1 of each year, the National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA) shall file with the Commission and Administrator the information listed below. Information filed with the Commission shall be compiled from information provided to NECA by telephone companies pursuant to § 54.1305.

(1) The unseparated loop cost for each study area and a nationwide-average unseparated loop cost.

(2) The annual amount of the high cost expense adjustment for each study area, and the total nationwide amount of the expense adjustment.

(3) The dollar amount and percentage of the increase in the nationwide average unseparated loop cost, as well as the dollar amount and percentage increase for each study area, for the previous 5 years, or the number of years NECA has been receiving this information, whichever is the shorter time period.

(b) [Reserved]

(a) For the purpose of calculating the expense adjustment, the study area total unseparated loop cost equals the sum of the following, however, subject to the limitations set forth in § 54.303:

(1) Return component for net unseparated Exchange Line C&WF subcategory 1.3 investment and Exchange Line CO Circuit Equipment Category 4.13 investment. This amount is calculated by deducting the accumulated depreciation and noncurrent deferred Federal income taxes attributable to C&WF Subcategory 1.3 investment and Exchange Line Category 4.13 circuit investment reported pursuant to § 54.1305(b) from the gross investment in Exchange Line C&WF Subcategory 1.3 and CO Category 4.13 reported pursuant to § 54.1305(a) to obtain the net unseparated C&WF Subcategory 1.3 investment, and CO Category 4.13 investment. The net unseparated C&WF Subcategory 1.3 investment and CO Category 4.13 investment is multiplied by the study area's authorized interstate rate of return.

(2) Depreciation expense attributable to C&WF Subcategory 1.3 investment, and CO Category 4.13 investment as reported in § 54.1305(c).

(3) Maintenance expense attributable to C&WF Subcategory 1.3 investment, and CO Category 4.13 investment as reported in § 54.1305(d).

(4) Corporate Operations Expenses, Operating Taxes and the benefits and rent portions of operating expenses, as reported in § 54.1305(e) attributable to investment in C&WF Category 1.3 and COE Category 4.13. This amount is calculated by multiplying the total amount of these expenses and taxes by the ratio of the unseparated gross exchange plant investment in C&WF Category 1.3 and COE Category 4.13, as reported in § 54.1305(a), to the unseparated gross telecommunications plant investment, as reported in § 54.1305(f). Total Corporate Operations Expense for purposes of calculating high-cost loop support payments beginning January 1, 2012 shall be limited to the lesser of § 54.1308(a)(4)(i) or (ii).

(i) The actual average monthly per-loop Corporate Operations Expense; or

(ii) A monthly per-loop amount computed according to paragraphs (a)(4)(ii)(A) through (D) of this section. To the extent that some carriers' corporate operations expenses are disallowed pursuant to these limitations, the national average unseparated cost per loop shall be adjusted accordingly. For the purposes of this paragraph (a)(4)(ii), “total eligible lines” refers to working loops as defined by this subpart and consumer broadband-only loops, as defined in § 54.901(g).

(A) For study areas with 6,000 or fewer total eligible lines, the monthly per-loop amount shall be $42.337 − (.00328 × the number of total eligible lines), or, $63,000/the number of total eligible lines, whichever is greater;

(B) For study areas with more than 6,000 but fewer than 17,887 total eligible lines, the monthly per-loop amount shall be $3.007 + (117,990/the number of total eligible lines); and

(C) For study areas with 17,887 or more total eligible lines, the monthly per-loop amount shall be $9.562.

(D) Beginning January 1, 2013, the monthly per-loop amount computed according to paragraphs (a)(4)(ii)(A), (a)(4)(ii)(B), and (a)(4)(ii)(C) of this section shall be adjusted each year to reflect the annual percentage change in the United States Department of Commerce's Gross Domestic Product-Chained Price Index (GDP-CPI).

(b) [Reserved]

[79 FR 39190, July 9, 2014, as amended at 81 FR 24344, Apr. 25, 2016; 83 FR 18964, May 1, 2018]

(a) National average unseparated loop cost per working loop. Except as provided in paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section, this is equal to the sum of the Loop Costs for each study area in the country as calculated pursuant to § 54.1308(a) divided by the sum of the working loops reported in § 54.1305(h) for each study area in the country. The national average unseparated loop cost per working loop shall be calculated by the National Exchange Carrier Association. Until June 30, 2015 the national average unseparated loop cost for purposes of calculating expense adjustments for rural incumbent local exchange carriers, as that term is defined in § 54.5 is frozen at $240.00.

(1) The national average unseparated loop cost per working loop shall be recalculated by the National Exchange Carrier Association to reflect the September, December, and March update filings.

(2) Each new nationwide average shall be used in determining the additional interstate expense allocation for companies which made filings by the most recent filing date.

(3) The calculation of a new national average to reflect the update filings shall not affect the amount of the additional interstate expense allocation for companies which did not make an update filing by the most recent filing date.

(b) Study area average unseparated loop cost per working loop. This is equal to the unseparated loop costs for the study area as calculated pursuant to § 54.1308(a) divided by the number of working loops reported in § 54.1305(i) for the study area.

(c) Until June 30, 2015, the national average unseparated loop Cost per working loop shall be the greater of:

(1) The amount calculated pursuant to the method described in paragraph (a) of this section; or

(2) An amount calculated to produce the maximum rural incumbent local exchange carrier portion of the nationwide loop cost expense adjustment allowable pursuant to § 54.1302(a).

(d) Beginning July 1, 2015, the national average unseparated loop cost per working loop shall be frozen at the national average unseparated loop cost per working loop as recalculated by the National Exchange Carrier Association to reflect the March 2015 update filing.

[79 FR 39190, July 9, 2014, as amended at 80 FR 4479, Jan. 27, 2015; 89 FR 25163, Apr. 10, 2024]

(a) Until June 30, 2015, for study areas reporting 200,000 or fewer working loops pursuant to § 54.1305(h), the expense adjustment (additional interstate expense allocation) is equal to the sum of paragraphs (a)(1) and (2) of this section.

(1) Sixty-five percent of the study area average unseparated loop cost per working loop as calculated pursuant to § 54.1309(b) in excess of 115 percent of the national average for this cost but not greater than 150 percent of the national average for this cost as calculated pursuant to § 54.1309(a) multiplied by the number of working loops reported in § 54.1305(h) for the study area; and

(2) Seventy-five percent of the study area average unseparated loop cost per working loop as calculated pursuant to § 54.1309(b) in excess of 150 percent of the national average for this cost as calculated pursuant to § 54.1309(a) multiplied by the number of working loops reported in § 54.1305(h) for the study area.

(b) Beginning July 1, 2015, the expense adjustment for each study area calculated pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section will be adjusted as follows:

(1) If the aggregate expense adjustments for all study areas exceed the maximum rural incumbent local exchange carrier portion of nationwide loop cost expense adjustment allowable pursuant to § 54.1302(a) (the HCLS cap), then each study area's expense adjustment will be reduced by multiplying it by the ratio of the HCLS cap to the aggregate expense adjustments for all study areas.

(2) If the aggregate expense adjustments for all study areas are less than the HCLS cap set pursuant to § 54.1302(a), then the expense adjustments for all study areas pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section shall be recalculated using a cost per loop calculated to produce an aggregate amount equal to the HCLS cap in place of the national average cost per loop.

(c) [Reserved]

(d) High Cost Loop Support is subject to a reduction as necessary to meet the overall cap on support established by the Commission for support provided pursuant to this subpart and subpart K of this chapter. Reductions shall be implemented as follows:

(1) On May 1 of each year, the Administrator will publish an annual target amount for High-Cost Loop Support in the aggregate. The target amount shall be the forecasted disbursement amount times a reduction factor. The reduction factor shall be the budget amount divided by the total forecasted disbursement amount for both High Cost Loop Support and Broadband Loop Support for recipients in the aggregate. The forecasted disbursement for High Cost Loop Support is the High Cost Loop Support cap determined pursuant to § 54.1302 as reflected in the most recent annual filing pursuant to § 54.1305.

(2) Each January 1 and July 1, the Administrator shall apply a pro rata reduction to High Cost Loop Support for each recipient of High Cost Loop Support as necessary to achieve the target amount.

(3) This paragraph (d) shall not apply to support provided from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018.

[80 FR 4479, Jan. 27, 2015, as amended at 81 FR 24344, Apr. 25, 2016; 83 FR 18965, May 1, 2018; 84 FR 4733, Feb. 19, 2019; 89 FR 25163, Apr. 10, 2024]