FCC Decides to Extend Jurisdictional Separations Freeze Again
In an order Tuesday, the FCC extended the jurisdictional separations freeze for another year to June 30, 2011. This is the third time the commission has ordered a freeze on Part 36 category relationships and jurisdictional cost allocation factors adopted by the FCC in the 2001 Separations Freeze Order. The extension will “provide stability to carriers that must comply with the commission’s jurisdictional separations rules while the commission and the joint board undertake reform,” the order said. The FCC said lifting the freeze would “create undue instability and administrative burdens” while the commission considers an overhaul.
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In July 2001, the commission ordered a five-year freeze, while it began reforming the separations rules. The freeze was extended for another three years in 2006, and then extended a second time in 2009. The commission also referred certain issues to the Federal State Joint Board.
But corrected separations factors must be applied because use of the network has changed, NASUCA said. “They haven’t made the changes that would benefit consumers and we're hoping that they would consider some of those changes sooner rather than later,” said David Bergmann, telecom committee chair.
The extension is the right decision, said the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance and the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association. “The whole matter of doing separations involves a lot of employees and redeveloping systems for collecting and analyzing the data,” said ITTA Regulatory Affairs Vice President Joshua Seidemann. “If they re-imposed separations, it would have introduced needless administrative burdens and costs on carriers.” The extension “ensures small communications providers do not experience substantial financial hardships from the administrative expenses associated with reinstituting complex separations studies, especially at a time when the FCC and rural carriers are working on critical issues such as the National Broadband Plan, universal service fund support reform, and intercarrier compensation reform,” a NTCA spokeswoman said.
In a petition, Gila River has been seeking relief from its separations freeze since 2006. The freeze has caused a financial impact of more than $1.4 million a year, General Manager Bruce Holdridge said: “If the National Broadband Plan moves forward, a reclassification may become moot, but we're looking at a five- to 10-year period for it to be implemented.” An extension “may be good for the industry, but it’s financially damaging to Gila River,” he said.