§ 54.201   Definition of eligible telecommunications carriers, generally.

   (a) Carriers eligible to receive support.

   (1) Only eligible telecommunications carriers designated under this subpart
   shall receive universal service support distributed pursuant to subparts D
   and E of this part. Eligible telecommunications carriers designated under
   this subpart for purposes of receiving support only under subpart E of this
   part  must  provide Lifeline service directly to qualifying low-income
   consumers.

   (2) [Reserved]

   (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, except as described in paragraph
   (d)(3) of this section, 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.

   (3)  Exception.  Price  cap carriers that serve census blocks that are
   identified by the forward-looking cost model as low-cost, census blocks that
   are served by an unsubsidized competitor as defined in § 54.5 meeting the
   requisite public interest obligations specified in § 54.309, or census blocks
   where a subsidized competitor is receiving federal high-cost support to
   deploy modern networks capable of providing voice and broadband to fixed
   locations, are not required to comply with paragraphs (d)(1) and (2) of this
   section in these specific geographic areas. Such price cap carriers remain
   obligated to maintain existing voice telephony service in these specific
   geographic areas unless and until a discontinuance is granted pursuant to
   § 63.71 of this chapter.

   (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 not designate a common carrier as an eligible
   telecommunications carrier for purposes of receiving support only under
   subpart E of this part unless the carrier seeking such designation has
   demonstrated that it is financially and technically capable of providing the
   supported Lifeline service in compliance with subpart E of this part.

   (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;  71 FR 65750 , Nov. 9, 2006;  77 FR 12966 , Mar. 2, 2012;
    80 FR 4476 , Jan. 27, 2015;  80 FR 40935 , July 14, 2015]

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