§ 1.1409 - Allocation of Unusable Space Costs.

§ 1.1409 Commission consideration of the complaint.

Cross Reference

Link to an amendment published at 83 FR 44838, September 4, 2018.

Cross Reference

Link to an amendment published at 83 FR 44840, September 4, 2018.

(a) In its consideration of the complaint, response, and reply, the Commission may take notice of any information contained in publicly available filings made by the parties and may accept, subject to rebuttal, studies that have been conducted. The Commission may also request that one or more of the parties make additional filings or provide additional information. Where one of the parties has failed to provide information required to be provided by these rules or requested by the Commission, or where costs, values or amounts are disputed, the Commission may estimate such costs, values or amounts it considers reasonable, or may decide adversely to a party who has failed to supply requested information which is readily available to it, or both.

(b) The complainant shall have the burden of establishing a prima facie case that the rate, term, or condition is not just and reasonable or that the denial of access violates 47 U.S.C. § 224(f). If, however, a utility argues that the proposed rate is lower than its incremental costs, the utility has the burden of establishing that such rate is below the statutory minimum just and reasonable rate. In a case involving a denial of access, the utility shall have the burden of proving that the denial was lawful, once a prima facie case is established by the complainant.

(c) The Commission shall determine whether the rate, term or condition complained of is just and reasonable. For the purposes of this paragraph (c), a rate is just and reasonable if it assures a utility the recovery of not less than the additional costs of providing pole attachments, nor more than an amount determined by multiplying the percentage of the total usable space, or the percentage of the total duct or conduit capacity, which is occupied by the pole attachment by the sum of the operating expenses and actual capital costs of the utility attributable to the entire pole, duct, conduit, or right-of-way. The Commission shall exclude from actual capital costs those reimbursements received by the utility from cable operators and telecommunications carriers for non-recurring costs.

(d) The Commission shall deny the complaint if it determines that the complainant has not established a prima facie case, or that the rate, term or condition is just and reasonable, or that the denial of access was lawful.

(e) When parties fail to resolve a dispute regarding charges for pole attachments and the Commission's complaint procedures under Section 1.1404 are invoked, the Commission will apply the following formulas for determining a maximum just and reasonable rate:

(1) The following formula shall apply to attachments to poles by cable operators providing cable services. This formula shall also apply to attachments to poles by any telecommunications carrier (to the extent such carrier is not a party to a pole attachment agreement) or cable operator providing telecommunications services until February 8, 2001:

(2) With respect to attachments to poles by any telecommunications carrier or cable operator providing telecommunications services, the maximum just and reasonable rate shall be the higher of the rate yielded by paragraphs (e)(2)(i) or (e)(2)(ii) of this section.

(i) The following formula applies to the extent that it yields a rate higher than that yielded by the applicable formula in paragraph 1.1409(e)(2)(ii) of this section:

Rate = Space Factor × Cost

Where Cost

in Service Areas where the number of Attaching Entities is 5 = 0.66 × (Net Cost of a Bare Pole x Carrying Charge Rate)

in Service Areas where the number of Attaching Entities is 4 = 0.56 × (Net Cost of a Bare Pole x Carrying Charge Rate)

in Service Areas where the number of Attaching Entities is 3 = 0.44 × (Net Cost of a Bare Pole x Carrying Charge Rate)

in Service Areas where the number of Attaching Entities is 2 = 0.31 × (Net Cost of a Bare Pole x Carrying Charge Rate)

in Service Areas where the number of Attaching Entities is not a whole number = N × (Net Cost of a Bare Pole × Carrying Charge Rate), where N is interpolated from the cost allocator associated with the nearest whole numbers above and below the number of Attaching Entities.

(ii) The following formula applies to the extent that it yields a rate higher than that yielded by the applicable formula in paragraph 1.1409(e)(2)(i) of this section:

(3) The following formula shall apply to attachments to conduit by cable operators and telecommunications carriers:

simplified as:

If no inner-duct is installed the fraction, “1 Duct divided by the No. of Inner-Ducts” is presumed to be 1⁄2.

(f) Paragraph (e)(2) of this section shall become effective February 8, 2001 (i.e., five years after the effective date of the Telecommunications Act of 1996). Any increase in the rates for pole attachments that results from the adoption of such regulations shall be phased in over a period of five years beginning on the effective date of such regulations in equal annual increments. The five-year phase-in is to apply to rate increases only. Rate reductions are to be implemented immediately. The determination of any rate increase shall be based on data currently available at the time of the calculation of the rate increase.

(g) A price cap company opting-out of part 32 of this chapter may calculate attachment rates for its poles, conduits, and rights of way using either part 32 accounting data or GAAP accounting data. A price cap company using GAAP accounting data to compute rates to attach to its poles, conduits, and rights of way in any of the first twelve years after opting-out must adjust (increase or decrease) its annually computed GAAP-based rates by an Implementation Rate Difference for each of the remaining years in the period. The Implementation Rate Difference means the difference between attachment rates calculated by the price cap carrier under part 32 and under GAAP as of the last full year preceding the carrier's initial opting-out of part 32 USOA accounting requirements.

[43 FR 36094, Aug. 15, 1978, as amended at 52 FR 31770, Aug. 24, 1987; 61 FR 43025, Aug. 20, 1996; 61 FR 45619, Aug. 29, 1996; 63 FR 12025, Mar. 12, 1998; 65 FR 31282, May 17, 2000; 66 FR 34580, June 29, 2001; 76 FR 26639, May 9, 2011; 81 FR 5618, Feb. 3, 2016; 81 FR 7999, Feb. 17, 2016; 82 FR 20840, May 4, 2017; 82 FR 61477, Dec. 28, 2017

Allocation of Unusable Space Costs.

(a) With respect to the formula referenced in § 1.1406(d)(2), a utility shall apportion the cost of providing unusable space on a pole so that such apportionment equals two-thirds of the costs of providing unusable space that would be allocated to such entity under an equal apportionment of such costs among all attaching entities.

(b) All attaching entities attached to the pole shall be counted for purposes of apportioning the cost of unusable space.

(c) Utilities may use the following rebuttable presumptive averages when calculating the number of attaching entities with respect to the formula referenced in § 1.1406(d)(2). For non-urbanized service areas (under 50,000 population), a presumptive average number of attaching entities of three. For urbanized service areas (50,000 or higher population), a presumptive average number of attaching entities of five. If any part of the utility's service area within the state has a designation of urbanized (50,000 or higher population) by the Bureau of Census, United States Department of Commerce, then all of that service area shall be designated as urbanized for purposes of determining the presumptive average number of attaching entities.

(d) A utility may establish its own presumptive average number of attaching entities for its urbanized and non-urbanized service area as follows:

(1) Each utility shall, upon request, provide all attaching entities and all entities seeking access the methodology and information upon which the utilities presumptive average number of attachers is based.

(2) Each utility is required to exercise good faith in establishing and updating its presumptive average number of attachers.

(3) The presumptive average number of attachers may be challenged by an attaching entity by submitting information demonstrating why the utility's presumptive average is incorrect. The attaching entity should also submit what it believes should be the presumptive average and the methodology used. Where a complete inspection is impractical, a statistically sound survey may be submitted.

(4) Upon successful challenge of the existing presumptive average number of attachers, the resulting data determined shall be used by the utility as the presumptive number of attachers within the rate formula.

[63 FR 12026, Mar. 12, 1998, as amended at 66 FR 34581, June 29, 2001. Redesignated and amended at 83 FR 44841, Sept. 4, 2018]