§  63.71   Procedures for discontinuance, reduction or impairment of service by
domestic carriers.

   Any domestic carrier that seeks to discontinue, reduce or impair
   service shall be subject to the following procedures:

   (a) The carrier shall notify all affected customers of the planned
   discontinuance, reduction, or impairment of service and shall notify
   and submit a copy of its application to the public utility commission
   and to the Governor of the State in which the discontinuance,
   reduction, or impairment of service is proposed; to any
   federally-recognized Tribal Nations with authority over the Tribal
   lands in which the discontinuance, reduction, or impairment of service
   is proposed; and also to the Secretary of Defense, Attn. Special
   Assistant for Telecommunications, Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301.
   Notice shall be in writing to each affected customer unless the
   Commission authorizes in advance, for good cause shown, another form of
   notice. For purposes of this section, notice by email constitutes
   notice in writing. Notice shall include the following:

   (1) Name and address of carrier;

   (2) Date of planned service discontinuance, reduction or impairment;

   (3) Points of geographic areas of service affected;

   (4) Brief description of type of service affected; and

   (5) One of the following statements:

   (i) If the carrier is non-dominant with respect to the service being
   discontinued, reduced or impaired, the notice shall state: The FCC will
   normally authorize this proposed discontinuance of service (or
   reduction or impairment) unless it is shown that customers would be
   unable to receive service or a reasonable substitute from another
   carrier or that the public convenience and necessity is otherwise
   adversely affected. If you wish to object, you should file your
   comments as soon as possible, but no later than 15 days after the
   Commission releases public notice of the proposed discontinuance. You
   may file your comments electronically through the FCC's Electronic
   Comment Filing System using the docket number established in the
   Commission's public notice for this proceeding, or you may address them
   to the Federal Communications Commission, Wireline Competition Bureau,
   Competition Policy Division, Washington, DC 20554, and include in your
   comments a reference to the § 63.71 Application of (carrier's name).
   Comments should include specific information about the impact of this
   proposed discontinuance (or reduction or impairment) upon you or your
   company, including any inability to acquire reasonable substitute
   service.

   (ii) If the carrier is dominant with respect to the service being
   discontinued, reduced or impaired, the notice shall state: The FCC will
   normally authorize this proposed discontinuance of service (or
   reduction or impairment) unless it is shown that customers would be
   unable to receive service or a reasonable substitute from another
   carrier or that the public convenience and necessity is otherwise
   adversely affected. If you wish to object, you should file your
   comments as soon as possible, but no later than 30 days after the
   Commission releases public notice of the proposed discontinuance. You
   may file your comments electronically through the FCC's Electronic
   Comment Filing System using the docket number established in the
   Commission's public notice for this proceeding, or you may address them
   to the Federal Communications Commission, Wireline Competition Bureau,
   Competition Policy Division, Washington, DC 20554, and include in your
   comments a reference to the § 63.71 Application of (carrier's name).
   Comments should include specific information about the impact of this
   proposed discontinuance (or reduction or impairment) upon you or your
   company, including any inability to acquire reasonable substitute
   service.

   (6) For applications to discontinue, reduce, or impair an existing
   retail service as part of a technology transition, as defined in
   § 63.60(i), except for applications meeting the requirements of
   paragraph (f)(2)(ii) of this section, in order to be eligible for
   automatic grant under paragraph (f) of this section:

   (i) A statement that any service offered in place of the service being
   discontinued, reduced, or impaired may not provide line power;

   (ii) The information required by § 12.5(d)(1) of this chapter;

   (iii) A description of any security responsibilities the customer will
   have regarding the replacement service; and

   (iv) A list of the steps the customer may take to ensure safe use of
   the replacement service.

   (b) If a carrier uses email to provide notice to affected customers, it
   must comply with the following requirements in addition to the
   requirements generally applicable to the notice:

   (1) The carrier must have previously obtained express, verifiable,
   prior approval from retail customers to send notices via email
   regarding their service in general, or planned discontinuance,
   reduction, or impairment in particular;

   (2) A carrier must ensure that the subject line of the message clearly
   and accurately identifies the subject matter of the email; and

   (3) Any email notice returned to the carrier as undeliverable will not
   constitute the provision of notice to the customer.

   (c) The carrier shall file with this Commission, on or after the date
   on which notice has been given to all affected customers, an
   application which shall contain the following:

   (1) Caption--"Section 63.71 Application";

   (2) Information listed in § 63.71(a) (1) through (4) above;

   (3) Brief description of the dates and methods of notice to all
   affected customers;

   (4) Whether the carrier is considered dominant or non-dominant with
   respect to the service to be discontinued, reduced or impaired; and

   (5) Any other information the Commission may require.

   (d) [Reserved]

   (e) Discontinuance applications and all related attachments to the
   application filed under this section shall be filed through the "Submit
   a Non-Docketed Filing" module of the Commission's Electronic Comment
   Filing System.

   (f)(1) The application to discontinue, reduce, or impair service, if
   filed by a domestic, non-dominant carrier, or any carrier meeting the
   requirements of paragraph (f)(2)(ii) of this section, shall be
   automatically granted on the 31st day after its filing with the
   Commission without any Commission notification to the applicant unless
   the Commission has notified the applicant that the grant will not be
   automatically effective. The application to discontinue, reduce, or
   impair service, if filed by a domestic, dominant carrier, shall be
   automatically granted on the 60th day after its filing with the
   Commission without any Commission notification to the applicant unless
   the Commission has notified the applicant that the grant will not be
   automatically effective. For purposes of this section, an application
   will be deemed filed on the date the Commission releases public notice
   of the filing.

   (2) An application to discontinue, reduce, or impair an existing retail
   service as part of a technology transition, as defined in § 63.60(i),
   may be automatically granted only if:

   (i) The applicant provides affected customers with the notice required
   under paragraph (a)(6) of this section, and the application contains
   the showing or certification described in § 63.602(b); or

   (ii) The applicant:

   (A) Offers a stand-alone interconnected VoIP service, as defined in
   § 9.3 of this chapter, throughout the affected service area, and

   (B) At least one other alternative stand-alone facilities-based
   wireline or wireless voice service is available from another
   unaffiliated provider throughout the affected service area.

   (iii) For purposes of this paragraph (f)(2), "stand-alone" means that a
   customer is not required to purchase a separate broadband service to
   access the voice service.

   (g) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a carrier is
   not required to file an application to discontinue, reduce, or impair a
   service for which the requesting carrier has had no customers or
   reasonable requests for service during the 30-day period immediately
   preceding the discontinuance.

   (h) An application to discontinue, reduce, or impair an existing retail
   service as part of a technology transition, as defined in § 63.60(i),
   except for an application meeting the requirements of paragraphs
   (f)(2)(ii) and (k) of this section, shall contain the information
   required by § 63.602. The certification or showing described in
   § 63.602(b) is only required if the applicant seeks eligibility for
   automatic grant under paragraph (f)(2)(i) of this section.

   (i) An application to discontinue, reduce, or impair a service filed by
   a competitive local exchange carrier in response to a copper retirement
   notice filed pursuant to § 51.333 of this chapter shall be automatically
   granted on the effective date of the copper retirement; provided that:

   (1) The competitive local exchange carrier submits the application to
   the Commission for filing at least 40 days prior to the copper
   retirement effective date; and

   (2) The application includes a certification, executed by an officer or
   other authorized representative of the applicant and meeting the
   requirements of § 1.16 of this chapter, that the copper retirement is
   the basis for the application.

   (j) Procedures for discontinuance, reduction or impairment of
   international services are in § 63.19.

   (k) Notwithstanding paragraphs (a)(5), (a)(6), and (f) of this section,
   the following requirements apply to applications for legacy voice
   services or data services operating at speeds lower than 1.544 Mbps:

   (1) Where any carrier, dominant or non-dominant, seeks to:

   (i) Grandfather any legacy voice service;

   (ii) Grandfather any data service operating at speeds lower than 1.544
   Mbps; or

   (iii) Discontinue, reduce, or impair a legacy data service operating at
   speeds lower than 1.544 Mbps that has been grandfathered for a period
   of no less than 180 days consistent with the criteria established in
   paragraph (k)(2) of this section, the notice shall state:

   The FCC will normally authorize this proposed discontinuance of service
   (or reduction or impairment) unless it is shown that customers would be
   unable to receive service or a reasonable substitute from another
   carrier or that the public convenience and necessity is otherwise
   adversely affected. If you wish to object, you should file your
   comments as soon as possible, but no later than 10 days after the
   Commission releases public notice of the proposed discontinuance. You
   may file your comments electronically through the FCC's Electronic
   Comment Filing System using the docket number established in the
   Commission's public notice for this proceeding, or you may address them
   to the Federal Communications Commission, Wireline Competition Bureau,
   Competition Policy Division, Washington, DC 20554, and include in your
   comments a reference to the § 63.71 Application of (carrier's name).
   Comments should include specific information about the impact of this
   proposed discontinuance (or reduction or impairment) upon you or your
   company, including any inability to acquire reasonable substitute
   service.

   (2) For applications to discontinue, reduce, or impair a legacy data
   service operating at speeds lower than 1.544 Mbps that has been
   grandfathered for a period of no less than 180 days, in order to be
   eligible for automatic grant under paragraph (k)(4) of this section, an
   applicant must include in its application a statement confirming that
   it received Commission authority to grandfather the service at issue at
   least 180 days prior to filing the current application.

   (3) An application filed by any carrier seeking to grandfather any
   legacy voice service or to grandfather any data service operating at
   speeds lower than 1.544 Mbps for existing customers shall be
   automatically granted on the 25th day after its filing with the
   Commission without any Commission notification to the applicant unless
   the Commission has notified the applicant that the grant will not be
   automatically effective.

   (4) An application filed by any carrier seeking to discontinue, reduce,
   or impair a legacy data service operating at speeds lower than 1.544
   Mbps that has been grandfathered for 180 days or more preceding the
   filing of the application, shall be automatically granted on the 31st
   day after its filing with the Commission without any Commission
   notification to the applicant, unless the Commission has notified the
   applicant that the grant will not be automatically effective.

   (l) Notwithstanding paragraphs (a)(5), (a)(6), and (f) of this section,
   the following requirements apply to applications for data services
   operating at or above 1.544 Mbps in both directions but below 25 Mbps
   download, and 3 Mbps upload, provided that the carrier offers
   alternative fixed data services in the affected service area at speeds
   of at least 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload:

   (1) Where any carrier, dominant or non-dominant, seeks to:

   (i) Grandfather such data service; or

   (ii) Discontinue, reduce, or impair such data service that has been
   grandfathered for a period of no less than 180 days consistent with the
   criteria established in paragraph (l)(2) of this section, the notice to
   all affected customers shall state:

   The FCC will normally authorize this proposed discontinuance of service
   (or reduction or impairment) unless it is shown that customers would be
   unable to receive service or a reasonable substitute from another
   carrier or that the public convenience and necessity is otherwise
   adversely affected. If you wish to object, you should file your
   comments as soon as possible, but no later than 10 days after the
   Commission releases public notice of the proposed discontinuance. You
   may file your comments electronically through the FCC's Electronic
   Comment Filing System using the docket number established in the
   Commission's public notice for this proceeding, or you may address them
   to the Federal Communications Commission, Wireline Competition Bureau,
   Competition Policy Division, Washington, DC 20554, and include in your
   comments a reference to the § 63.71 Application of (carrier's name).
   Comments should include specific information about the impact of this
   proposed discontinuance (or reduction or impairment) upon you or your
   company, including any inability to acquire reasonable substitute
   service.

   (2) For applications to discontinue, reduce, or impair such data
   service that has been grandfathered for a period of no less than 180
   days, in order to be eligible for automatic grant under paragraph
   (l)(4) of this section, an applicant must include in its application a
   statement confirming that it received Commission authority to
   grandfather the service at issue at least 180 days prior to filing the
   current application.

   (3) An application seeking to grandfather such a data service shall be
   automatically granted on the 25th day after its filing with the
   Commission without any Commission notification to the applicant unless
   the Commission has notified the applicant that the grant will not be
   automatically effective.

   (4) An application seeking to discontinue, reduce, or impair such a
   data service that has been grandfathered under this section for 180
   days or more preceding the filing of the application, shall be
   automatically granted on the 31st day after its filing with the
   Commission without any Commission notification to the applicant, unless
   the Commission has notified the applicant that the grant will not be
   automatically effective.

   [ 64 FR 39939 , July 23, 1999, as amended at  71 FR 65751 , Nov. 9, 2006;
    73 FR 56741 , Sept. 30, 2008;  80 FR 1588 , Jan. 13, 2015;  80 FR 63373 ,
   Oct. 19, 2015;  81 FR 62656 , Sept. 12, 2016;  82 FR 25711 , June 2, 2017;
    82 FR 61478 , Dec. 28, 2017;  83 FR 31675 , July 9, 2018]