Sec.  54.307   Support to a competitive eligible telecommunications carrier.

   (a)  Calculation of support. A competitive eligible telecommunications
   carrier shall receive universal service support to the extent that the
   competitive eligible telecommunications carrier captures the subscriber
   lines of an incumbent local exchange carrier (LEC) or serves new subscriber
   lines in the incumbent LEC's service area.

   (1) A competitive eligible telecommunications carrier serving loops in the
   service area of a rural incumbent local exchange carrier, as that term is
   defined in  Sec. 54.5 of this chapter, shall receive support for each line it
   serves in a particular service area based on the support the incumbent LEC
   would  receive  for  each  such  line,  disaggregated  by cost zone if
   disaggregation zones have been established within the service area pursuant
   to   Sec. 54.315 of this subpart. A competitive eligible telecommunications
   carrier serving loops in the service area of a non-rural incumbent local
   exchange  carrier  shall  receive support for each line it serves in a
   particular wire center based on the support the incumbent LEC would receive
   for  each such line. A competitive eligible telecommunications carrier
   serving loops in the service area of a rate-of-return carrier shall be
   eligible to receive Interstate Common Line Support for each line it serves
   in the service area in accordance with the formula in  Sec. 54.901.

   (2) A competitive eligible telecommunications carrier that uses switching
   purchased as unbundled network elements pursuant to  Sec. 51.307 of this chapter
   to provide the supported services shall receive the lesser of the unbundled
   network element price for switching or the per-line DEM support of the
   incumbent LEC, if any. A competitive eligible telecommunications carrier
   that uses loops purchased as unbundled network elements pursuant to  Sec. 51.307
   of this chapter to provide the supported services shall receive the lesser
   of the unbundled network element price for the loop or the incumbent LEC's
   per-line payment from the high-cost loop support, LTS, and Interstate Common
   Line   Support   mechanisms,  if  any.  The  incumbent  LEC  providing
   nondiscriminatory access to unbundled network elements to such competitive
   eligible telecommunications carrier shall receive the difference between the
   level of universal service support provided to the competitive eligible
   telecommunications carrier and the per-customer level of support that the
   incumbent LEC would have received.

   (3) A competitive eligible telecommunications carrier that provides the
   supported  services using neither unbundled network elements purchased
   pursuant to  Sec. 51.307 of this chapter nor wholesale service purchased pursuant
   to section 251(c)(4) of the Act will receive the full amount of universal
   service  support  that  the incumbent LEC would have received for that
   customer.

   (b) In order to receive support pursuant to this subpart, a competitive
   eligible telecommunications carrier must report to the Administrator the
   number of working loops it serves in a service area pursuant to the schedule
   set forth in paragraph (c) of this section. For a competitive eligible
   telecommunications carrier serving loops in the service area of a rural
   incumbent local exchange carrier, as that term is defined in  Sec. 54.5, the
   carrier must report, by customer class, the number of working loops it
   serves in the service area, disaggregated by cost zone if disaggregation
   zones have been established within the service area pursuant to  Sec. 54.315. For
   a competitive eligible telecommunications carrier serving loops in the
   service area of a non-rural telephone company, the carrier must report the
   number of working loops it serves in the service area, by customer class if
   the non-rural telephone company receives Interstate Common Line Support
   pursuant to  Sec. 54.901 and by disaggregation zone if disaggregation zones have
   been  established  within the service area pursuant to  Sec. 54.315 of this
   subpart, and the number of working loops it serves in each wire center in
   the service 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. Competitive eligible telecommunications
   carriers providing mobile wireless service in an incumbent LEC's service
   area shall use the customer's billing address for purposes of identifying
   the service location of a mobile wireless customer in a service area.

   (c) A competitive eligible telecommunications carrier must submit the data
   required  pursuant  to  paragraph (b) of this section according to the
   schedule.

   (1) No later than July 31st of each year, submit data as of December 31st of
   the previous calendar year;

   (2) No later than September 30th of each year, submit data as of March 31st
   of the existing calendar year;

   (3) No later than December 30th of each year, submit data as of June 30th of
   the existing calendar year;

   (4) No later than March 30th of each year, submit data as of September 30th
   of the previous calendar year.

   (d) Newly designated eligible telecommunications carriers. Notwithstanding
   the deadlines in paragraph (c) of this section, a carrier shall be eligible
   to  receive  support as of the effective date of its designation as an
   eligible telecommunications carrier under section 214(e)(2) or (e)(6),
   provided that it submits the data required pursuant to paragraph (b) of this
   section within 60 days of that effective date. Thereafter, the eligible
   telecommunications carrier must submit the data required in paragraph (b) of
   this section pursuant to the schedule in paragraph (c) of this section.

   [ 62 FR 32948 , June 17, 1997, as amended at  63 FR 2128 , Jan. 13, 1998;  64 FR 67431 , Dec. 1, 1999;  65 FR 26516 , May 8, 2000;  66 FR 30087 , June 5, 2001;  66 FR 59726 , Nov. 30, 2001;  68 FR 31623 , May 28, 2003;  69 FR 34602 , June 22,
   2004;  70 FR 29979 , May 25, 2005]