The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) has granted petitions filed by two centralized equal access (CEA) providers, South Dakota Network, LLC (SDN) and Minnesota Independent Equal Access Corporation (MIEAC), requesting waiver of the Commission’s rule requiring these providers to submit their biennial access tariff filings with an effective date of July 1, 2018. In April, the Bureau extended the access tariff filing deadline for another CEA provider, Aureon, due to a pending investigation into the lawfulness of tariff revisions that Aureon filed with the Commission. The Bureau has found good cause to similarly extend this deadline for SDN and MIEAC. Strict compliance with the original deadline during the pendency of the Aureon investigation could lead to overlapping tariff investigations, resulting in an unnecessary expenditure of time and resources. The three-month waiver will allow SDN and MIEAC to file their access tariffs with an effective date of October 2, 2018.
