47 C.F.R. § 54.201 Definition of eligible telecommunications carriers, generally.
Title 47 - Telecommunication
(a) Carriers eligible to receive support. (1) Beginning January 1, 1998, only eligible telecommunications carriers designated under paragraphs (b) through (d) of this section shall receive universal service support distributed pursuant to part 36 and part 69 of this chapter, and subparts D and E of this part. (2) A state commission that is unable to designate as an eligible telecommunications carrier, by January 1, 1998, a carrier that sought such designation before January 1, 1998, may, once it has designated such carrier, file with the Commission a petition for waiver of paragraph (a)(1) of this section requesting that the carrier receive universal service support retroactive to January 1, 1998. The state commission must explain why it did not designate such carrier as eligible by January 1, 1998, and provide a justification for why providing support retroactive to January 1, 1998, serves the public interest. (3) This paragraph does not apply to offset or reimbursement support distributed pursuant to subpart G of this part. (4) This paragraph does not apply to support distributed pursuant to subpart F of this part. (b) A state commission shall upon its own motion or upon request designate a common carrier that meets the requirements of paragraph (d) of this section as an eligible telecommunications carrier for a service area designated by the state commission. (c) Upon request and consistent with the public interest, convenience, and necessity, the state commission may, in the case of an area served by a rural telephone company, and shall, in the case of all other areas, designate more than one common carrier as an eligible telecommunications carrier for a service area designated by the state commission, so long as each additional requesting carrier meets the requirements of paragraph (d) of this section. Before designating an additional eligible telecommunications carrier for an area served by a rural telephone company, the state commission shall find that the designation is in the public interest. (d) A common carrier designated as an eligible telecommunications carrier under this section shall be eligible to receive universal service support in accordance with section 254 of the Act and shall, throughout the service area for which the designation is received: (1) Offer the services that are supported by federal universal service support mechanisms under subpart B of this part and section 254(c) of the Act, either using its own facilities or a combination of its own facilities and resale of another carrier's services (including the services offered by another eligible telecommunications carrier); and (2) Advertise the availability of such services and the charges therefore using media of general distribution. (e) For the purposes of this section, the term facilities means any physical components of the telecommunications network that are used in the transmission or routing of the services that are designated for support pursuant to subpart B of this part. (f) For the purposes of this section, the term “own facilities” includes, but is not limited to, facilities obtained as unbundled network elements pursuant to part 51 of this chapter, provided that such facilities meet the definition of the term “facilities” under this subpart. (g) A state commission shall not require a common carrier, in order to satisfy the requirements of paragraph (d)(1) of this section, to use facilities that are located within the relevant service area, as long as the carrier uses facilities to provide the services designated for support pursuant to subpart B of this part within the service area. (h) A state commission shall designate a common carrier that meets the requirements of this section as an eligible telecommunications carrier irrespective of the technology used by such carrier. (i) A state commission shall not designate as an eligible telecommunications carrier a telecommunications carrier that offers the services supported by federal universal service support mechanisms exclusively through the resale of another carrier's services. [62 FR 32948, June 17, 1997, as amended at 63 FR 2125, Jan. 13, 1998; 64 FR 62123, Nov. 16, 1999]
Title 47: Telecommunication
PART 54—UNIVERSAL SERVICE
Subpart C—Carriers Eligible for Universal Service Support
§ 54.201 Definition of eligible telecommunications carriers, generally.
