Funding Status
Wave 15 for FY 2012 will be released on Tuesday, October 16, 2012, for $35.2 million. Priority 2 funding is being provided at 90%, and is being denied at 89% and below. Cumulative funding for FY 2012 is $1.38 billion.
Wave 65 for FY 2011 will be released on Wednesday, October 17, 2012, for $4.7 million. Priority 2 requests are being funded at 88% and above, and denied at 87% and below. Cumulative funding for FY 2011 is $2.42 billion.
Wave 102 for FY 2010 will be released on Monday, October 15, 2012, for $3.2 million. Priority 2 requests are being funded at all discount levels. Cumulative funding for FY 2010 is $3.05 billion.
SLD Fall Training – Eligible Services
As discussed in our newsletter of October 1, 2012, the most significant change to the Eligible Services List ("ESL") for FY 2013 deals not with the eligibility of services, but with the consolidation of all Priority 1 services into a single list. For Form 470 purposes, this means that applicants should no longer be denied when improperly categorizing a service as Telecommunications or Internet Access.
For Form 471 purposes, however, applicants must still correctly request services under either Telecommunications or Internet Access. However, if an error is made in this selection, it can generally be corrected without penalty. Note the following:
- Most telecommunications services must be filed under Telecommunications, and must be provided by an eligible telecommunications carrier. If an applicant requests discounts on telecommunications services from an ineligible carrier either: (a) the carrier must file a Form 499 to become eligible; or (b) the applicant will be allowed to switch to an eligible carrier.
- The one exception to the above is for fiber optic telecommunications services, either lit or dark, which can now be provided by both eligible and ineligible carriers. Fiber services should be filed as Telecommunications if provided by eligible carriers, or as Internet Access if provided by ineligible carriers, but errors in this classification can be fixed in PIA.
- Applicants receiving discounts on Internet services must be CIPA compliant. It is important to note, however, that CIPA applies not only to Internet services filed as Internet Access, but to combined telecommunications and Internet services filed under Telecommunications.
The SLD training presentation clarified several issues regarding dark fiber installations, including the following points:
- To be eligible, dark fiber must be used immediately. With one minor exception (see below), E-rate will not support the warehousing of dark fiber for future use.
- Installation charges associated with bringing fiber from the property line to the school or library are eligible, but installation charges for running fiber from a carrier's network to the property line is not.
- Dark fiber linking two buildings on the same campus is eligible, but only as Priority 2.
- The one "warehousing" exception applies to the installation portion of work between the building and the property line. As that work is being done, extra fiber strands may be included. E-rate won't pay the incremental cost of those strands, but will not require the applicant to cost-allocate out an associated portion of the installation charge.
- Modulating electronics for dark fiber are not eligible — even as Priority 2.
Given the limitations on dark fiber installations and the ineligibility of terminating equipment, lit fiber alternatives appear to provide superior E-rate economics.
One issue addressed only in Q&A was the eligibility, without cost allocation, of free or discounted end user devices bundled with Priority 1 services. E-rate rules now clearly permit the inclusion of basic cellphones with cellular services, but the extension of that permission to more sophisticated devices such as notebooks — or VoIP handsets — is the subject of a current FCC inquiry. Indeed, when the FCC released the Eligible Services List for FY 2013, it included an explicit warning that it will "defer acting on these issues for now."
The slides addressing other topics in the SLD's Eligible Services presentation are available on the SLD Web site.
E-Rate Updates and Reminders
October Deadlines:
The invoicing deadline for recurring FY 2011 services is Monday, October 29, 2012. Associated SPIN changes, if required, should also be made by this date. Invoice deadline extension requests, if required, will generally be granted if filed within the next few months. Additional information is provided in the SLD News Brief for September 28, 2012.
Normally, the Form 486 deadline for early funding waves would have also been on October 29th. However, since the first two waves for FY 2012 were not issued until July 10th (Wave 1) and July 11th (Wave 2) this year, those Form 486 deadlines will be November 7th and November 8th, respectively.
The FCC is seeking nominations (DA 12-1469) to fill nine of the eighteen outside director positions on the USAC Board that are being filled temporarily, are vacant, or will soon become vacant. Nominations are due this Monday, October 15th.
Schools and Libraries News Brief Dated October 12 – Program Eligibility
The SLD News Brief for October 12, 2012, discusses the basic requirements for E-rate program eligibility for schools, libraries, and service providers.