FCC Announces CAF Phase II Auction Results: What Winning Bidders Need to Know About ETC Petition Filings and Other Key Deadlines
August 31, 2018
On August 28, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced the winning bidders in the Connect America Fund Phase II Auction. https://www.fcc.gov/document/connect-america-auction-expand-broadband-713176-rural-locations. The CAF Phase II subsidies will provide new impetus to the rural buildout strategies of incumbent local and competitive local exchange providers, as well as electric cooperatives and other winning bidders. In the same announcement, the Commission disclosed a series of critical deadlines that must be met by winning bidders. Eckert Seamans attorneys are available to assist in meeting these deadlines. The following is a brief summary of the deadlines as announced on August 28th. Additional detail on all of these deadlines can be found in the FCC Form 683 Instructions.
ETC Designation Petitions: For carriers that have not already been designated as Eligible Telecommunications Carriers (ETC), filing an ETC Petition is high on the priority list. Carriers have until Monday, February 25, 2019 to document to the Commission their high-cost ETC designation for each state in which winning bids were made, including a letter from an officer of the company certifying that the ETC designation covers all the relevant areas. Providers that do not already have ETC designation should be thinking about filing an ETC Petition at the state or federal level, as appropriate, as soon as practicable in order to provide the several months’ time needed for regulatory review and approval. A near-term filing is necessary to be certain to meet this important ETC designation deadline.
Eckert Seamans can also facilitate the process of meeting the following deadlines which the Commission announced on the 28th:
The Divide Winning Bids Window: A winning bidder that wants to assign its winning bids to related entities must submit the Divide Winning Bids portion of the FCC Form 683 electronically via the Auction Application System. The Divide Winning Bids portion of the FCC Form 683 must be submitted and confirmed prior to 6:00 p.m. ET on Friday, September 14, 2018. The filing window to submit this portion of FCC Form 683 will open at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) on Tuesday, September 4, 2018 and close at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, September 14, 2018.[1]
Long-Form Application Window: During this window, winning bidders will submit the long-form application portion of FCC Form 683 via the Auction Application System. The long-form application portion of the FCC Form 683 must be submitted and confirmed prior to 6:00 p.m. ET on Monday, October 15, 2018. This filing window will open at 10:00 a.m. ET on Monday, October 1, 2018 and close 6:00 p.m. ET on Monday, October 15, 2018.
Filing Deadlines for Certain Information Permitted to be Filed Post-Long-Form Application Deadline: The information permitted to be filed after the Long-Form Application Deadline has passed can be submitted in an applicant’s Form 683 starting at 10:00 p.m. ET on Monday, October 22, 2018.
The following information must be uploaded to the FCC Form 683, and the FCC Form 683 must be submitted and confirmed prior to 6:00 p.m. ET on the following dates:
Monday, November 5th:
- For each state in which winning bids were made, a detailed description of the technology and system that will be used to meet the Auction 903 public interest obligations, including a network diagram certified by a professional engineer meeting the relevant requirements.
- A letter(s) for each applicable state from a bank acceptable to the Commission committing to issue an irrevocable stand-by letter of credit meeting the relevant requirements to the long-form applicant.
Monday, February 25th:
- As explained above, for each state in which winning bids were made, appropriate documentation of the long-form applicant’s high-cost ETC designation and a letter(s) from an officer of the company certifying that the ETC designation covers all the relevant areas. The ETC petition process must be initiated soon at the state or federal level, as appropriate, in order to meet this deadline.
- One year of audited financial statements if audited financial statements were not submitted in the short-form application by the long-form applicant or a related entity.
No later than 10 business days after a public notice announcing the long-form applicant is ready to be authorized to receive support in a state(s):
- A letter(s) of credit meeting the relevant requirements for each state where the long-form applicant is ready to be authorized.
- A bankruptcy opinion letter(s) from legal counsel for the letter(s) of credit meeting the relevant requirements.
After each relevant portion of an FCC Form 683 has been submitted by an applicant, a confirmation screen will appear. The confirmation screen will display the submission time and date, and, for the long-form application portion, a unique file number. Late applications or unconfirmed submissions will not be accepted by the FCC. If you would like Eckert Seamans to immediately prepare and file your federal or state ETC designation petition(s), or if you have any questions about these requirements, please feel free to contact Rob Gastner (202.659.6674). Winning Virginia bidders can contact Eric Page (804.788.7771) in Richmond, and winning Pennsylvania bidders can contact Deanne O’Dell (717.255.3744) in Harrisburg.
[1] A winning bidder that does not want to assign some or all of its winning bids to related entities need not participate in this process and may ignore this portion of FCC Form 683. A winning bidder that does not timely submit the Divide Winning Bids portion of the FCC Form 683 by this deadline will be required to complete the long-form application portion of FCC Form 683 for all its winning bids.
This Utilities and Telecommunications Alert is intended to keep readers current on matters affecting businesses and is not intended to be legal advice.