Blog Posts by Wireline Competition Bureau

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Please provide comments to the issue below as part of the 2012 WCB cost model virtual workshop for inclusion in the record. Comments are moderated for conformity to the workshop’s guidelines.

Background

The Bureau believes most of the hardware necessary in each wire center is captured by the requirements for voice or inter-office transport.

Hybrid Cost Proxy Model: The HCPM envisions a network that requires a circuit switch for voice calls, digital loop carriers (DLCs), and serving area interfaces (SAIs). The HCPM also includes the costs associated with the main distribution frame (MDF), the purchase and installation of power equipment costs, and appropriate engineering costs.

CQBAT: The CQBAT model includes costs for an all-IP network, including routers, Ethernet switches, and rack space, in addition to costs for buildings, land, and power. For fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) configurations, the cost of optical line terminators (OLTs) is also included.

Please provide comments to the issue below as part of the 2012 WCB cost model virtual workshop for inclusion in the record. Comments are moderated for conformity to the workshop’s guidelines.

Background

Hybrid Cost Proxy Model: The Commission determined that nationwide default values were generally more appropriate than company-specific values. Accordingly, the HCPM uses nationwide average values for estimating plant-specific operations expenses. The Commission found that averages, rather than company-specific data, are better predictors of the forward-looking costs that should be supported by the federal high-cost mechanism. The Commission also determined that the use of nationwide averages would reward efficient companies and provide the proper incentives to inefficient companies to become more efficient over time, and that this reward system would drive the national average toward the cost that the competitive firm could achieve.

CQBAT: While the CQBAT model also does not use company-specific values to predict forward-looking costs, it does use regional cost adjustment factors to capture variation in labor and materials costs by three-digit ZIP codes.

Please provide comments to the issue below as part of the 2012 WCB cost model virtual workshop for inclusion in the record. Comments are moderated for conformity to the workshop's guidelines.

Background

The Commission has a statutory obligation to ensure that schools, libraries, and health care providers have access to advanced telecommunications and information services. In the USF/ICC Transformation Order, the Commission established a performance goal of ensuring "universal availability of modern networks capable of delivering broadband and voice services . . . to community anchor institutions." Community anchor institutions are defined by the Order to include such entities as schools, libraries, hospitals and other medical providers, public safety entities, institutions of higher education, and community support organizations that facilitate greater use of broadband by vulnerable populations, including low-income, the unemployed, and the aged.