Last month we reported on the FCC’s adoption of a “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” (NPRM/FNPRM) kicking off a proceeding which looks to overhaul, from top to bottom, both the Universal Service Fund and the Intercarrier Compensation system. The NPRM/FNPRM has now been published in the Federal Register, which sets the deadlines for comments and reply comments. Get out your pencils and papers — there are more deadlines than usual (probably because of the vast scope of the proceeding).
If you want to comment on Section XV (“Reducing Inefficiencies and Waste by Curbing Arbitrage Opportunities”), you have until April 1, 2011 to file comments and April 18, 2011 to file replies. [Note: Section XV comprises Paragraphs 603-677 of the original NPRM/FNPRM. The summary of the NPRM/FNPRM as it appears in the Federal Register does not contain the full text of the NPRM/FNPRM and does not include the same paragraph numbering or section labeling as the original.]
Comments on the remaining sections are due no later than April 18, 2011; reply comments are due no later than May 23, 2011. There’s also a separate comment date for State Members of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service — that would be May 2, 2011. And finally, if you’d like to offer the FCC comments on the information collection aspects of the proposal (in connection with the Paperwork Reduction Act), you have until May 2, 2011.
