(a) For purposes of computing annual revenue requirements for access elements net investment as defined in § 69.2 (z) shall be apportioned among the interexchange category, the billing and collection category and access elements as provided in this subpart. For purposes of this subpart, local transport includes five elements: entrance facilities, direct-trunked transport, tandem-switched transport, dedicated signaling transport, and the interconnection charge. Expenses shall be apportioned as provided in subpart E of this part.

(b) The End User Common Line and Carrier Common Line elements shall be combined for purposes of this subpart and subpart E of this part. Those elements shall be described collectively as the Common Line element. The Common Line element revenue requirement shall be segregated in accordance with subpart F of this part.

(a) Investment in Accounts 2001, 1220 and Class B Rural Telephone Bank Stock booked in Account 1410 shall be apportioned among the interexchange category, billing and collection category and appropriate access elements as provided in §§ 69.303 through 69.309.

(b) Investment in Accounts 2002, 2003 and to the extent such inclusions are allowed by this Commission, Account 2005 shall be apportioned on the basis of the total investment in Account 2001, Telecommunications Plant in Service.

Investment in all other IOT shall be apportioned between the Special Access and Common Line elements on the basis of the relative number of equivalent lines in use, as provided herein. Each interstate or foreign Special Access Line, excluding lines designated in § 69.115(e), shall be counted as one or more equivalent lines where channels are of higher than voice bandwidth, and the number of equivalent lines shall equal the number of voice capacity analog or digital channels to which the higher capacity is equivalent. Local exchange subscriber lines shall be multiplied by the interstate Subscriber Plant Factor to determine the number of equivalent local exchange subscriber lines.

(a) Investment in local exchange subscriber lines shall be assigned to the Common Line element.

(b) Investment in interstate and foreign private lines and interstate WATS access lines shall be assigned to the Special access element.

(a) Carrier C&WF that is not used for “origination” or “termination” as defined in § 69.2(bb) and § 69.2(cc) shall be assigned to the interexchange category.

(b) Carrier C&WF, other than WATS access lines, not assigned pursuant to paragraph (a), (c), or (e) of this section that is used for interexchange services that use switching facilities for origination and termination that are also used for local exchange telephone service shall be apportioned to the local Transport elements.

(c) Carrier C&WF that is used to provide transmission between the local exchange carrier's signalling transfer point and the database shall be assigned to the Line Information Database sub-element at § 69.120(a).

(d) All Carrier C&WF that is not apportioned pursuant to paragraphs (a), (b), (c), and (e) of this section shall be assigned to the Special Access element.

(e) Carrier C&WF that is used to provide transmission between the local exchange carrier's signalling transfer point and the local switch shall be assigned to the local switching category.

(a) The Separations Manual categories shall be used for purposes of apportioning investment in such equipment except that any Central office equipment attributable to local transport shall be assigned to the Transport elements.

(b) COE Category 1 (Operator Systems Equipment) shall be apportioned among the interexchange category and the access elements as follows: Category 1 that is used for intercept services shall be assigned to the Local Switching element. Category 1 that is used for directory assistance shall be assigned to the Information element. Category 1 other than service observation boards that is not assigned to the Information element and is not used for intercept services shall be assigned to the interexchange category. Service observation boards shall be apportioned among the interexchange category, and the Information and Transport access elements based on the remaining combined investment in COE Category 1, Category 2 and Category 3.

(c) COE Category 2 (Tandem Switching Equipment) that is deemed to be exchange equipment for purposes of the Modification of Final Judgment in United States v. Western Electric Co. shall be assigned to the tandem switching charge subelement and the interconnection charge element. COE Category 2 which is associated with the signal transfer point function shall be assigned to the local switching category. COE Category 2 which is used to provide transmission facilities between the local exchange carrier's signalling transfer point and the database shall be assigned to the Line Information Database subelement at § 69.120(a). All other COE Category 2 shall be assigned to the interexchange category.

(d) COE Category 3 (Local Switching Equipment) shall be assigned to the Local Switching element except as provided in paragraph (a) of this section; and that,

(1) For telephone companies subject to price cap regulation set forth in part 61 of this chapter, line-side port costs shall be assigned to the Common Line rate element; and

(2) [Reserved]

(3) Beginning July 1, 2012, a non-price cap local exchange carrier shall assign line-side port costs to the Common Line rate element equal to the amount of line-side port costs it shifted in its 2011 projected Interstate Switched Access Revenue Requirement.

(e) COE Category 4 (Circuit Equipment) shall be apportioned among the interexchange category and the Common Line, Transport, and Special Access elements. COE Category 4 shall be apportioned in the same proportions as the associated Cable and Wireless Facilities; except that any DS1/voice-grade multiplexer investment associated with analog local switches and assigned to the local transport category by this section shall be reallocated to the local switching category.

(a) General purpose computer investment used in the provision of the Line Information Database sub-element at § 69.120(b) shall be assigned to that sub-element.

(b) General purpose computer investment used in the provision of the billing name and address element at § 69.128 shall be assigned to that element.

(c)(1) Until June 30, 2002, for all local exchange carriers not subject to price cap regulation and for other carriers that acquire all of the billing and collection services that they provide to interexchange carriers from unregulated affiliates through affiliate transactions, from unaffiliated third parties, or from both of these sources, all other General Support Facilities investments shall be apportioned among the interexchange category, the billing and collection category, and Common Line, Local Switching, Information, Transport, and Special Access elements on the basis of Central Office Equipment, Information Origination/Termination Equipment, and Cable and Wire Facilities, combined.

(2) Beginning July 1, 2002, for all local exchange carriers that acquire all of the billing and collection services that they provide to interexchange carriers from unregulated affiliates through affiliate transactions, from unaffiliated third parties, or from both of these sources, all other General Support Facilities investments shall be apportioned among the interexchange category, the billing and collection category, and Common Line, Local Switching, Information, Transport, and Special Access elements on the basis of Central Office Equipment, Information Origination/Termination Equipment, and Cable and Wire Facilities, combined.

(d) For local exchange carriers subject to price cap regulation and not covered by Section 69.307(c), a portion of General purpose computer investment (Account 2124), investment in Land (Account 2111), Buildings (Account 2121), and Office equipment (Account 2123) shall be apportioned to the billing and collection category on the basis of the Big Three Expense Factors allocator, defined in Section 69.2 of this Part, modified to exclude expenses that are apportioned on the basis of allocators that include General Support Facilities investment. The remaining portion of investment in these four accounts together with all other General Support Facilities investments shall be apportioned among the interexchange category, the billing and collection category, and Common Line, Local Switching, Information, Transport, and Special Access Elements on the basis of Central Office Equipment, Information Origination/Termination Equipment, and Cable and Wire Facilities, combined.

(e) Beginning July 1, 2002, for non-price cap local exchange carriers not covered by § 69.307(c)(2), a portion of General purpose computer investment shall be apportioned to the billing and collection category on the basis of the Big Three Expense Factors allocator, defined in § 69.2, modified to exclude expenses that are apportioned on the basis of allocators that include General Support Facilities investment. The remaining General Support Facilities investments shall be apportioned among the interexchange category, the billing and collection category, and Common Line, Local Switching, Information, Transport, and Special Access Elements on the basis of Central Office Equipment, Information Origination/Termination Equipment, and Cable and Wire Facilities, combined.

Investment that is not apportioned pursuant to §§ 69.302 through 69.307 shall be apportioned among the interexchange category, the billing and collection category and access elements in the same proportions as the combined investment that is apportioned pursuant to §§ 69.303 through 69.307.

Capital Leases in Account 2680 shall be directly assigned to the appropriate interexchange category or access elements consistent with the treatment prescribed for similar plant costs or shall be apportioned in the same manner as Account 2001.

(a) Each non-price cap local exchange carrier shall remove consumer broadband-only loop investment assigned to the special access category by §§ 69.301 through 69.310 from the special access category and assign it to the Consumer Broadband-Only Loop category when the tariff charge described in § 69.132 of this part becomes effective.

(b) Until June 30, 2018, the consumer broadband-only loop investment to be removed from the special access category shall be determined using the following estimation method.

(1) To determine the investment in Common Line facilities as if 100 percent were allocated to the interstate jurisdiction, a carrier shall use 100 percent as the interstate allocator in determining investment and the allocation of investment to the common line category under part 36 of this chapter and this part.

(2) The result of paragraph (b)(1) of this section shall be divided by the number of voice and voice/data lines in the study area to produce an average investment per line.

(3) The average investment per line determined by paragraph (b)(2) of this section shall be multiplied by the number of Consumer Broadband-only Loops in the study area to derive the investment to be shifted from the Special Access category to the Consumer Broadband-only Loop category.

(c) Beginning July 1, 2018, each carrier shall determine, consistent with the Part 36 and Part 69 cost allocation rules, the amount of Consumer Broadband-Only Loop investment and related reserves and other investment assigned to the interstate Special Access category that is to be shifted to the Consumer Broadband-Only Loop category.