The FCC has adopted an Order further extending the professional engineer certification waiver, relieving Broadband Data Collection filers of the requirement to verify their BDC submissions with a licensed professional engineer or corporate engineering officer, for the next three filing windows, through December 2024. The Competitive Carriers Association and USTelecom – The Broadband Associated previously filed a Petition for Extension of Waiver seeking the extension due to the lack of available professional engineers.
The FCC determined that the number of available professional engineers has not increased since the time that it granted the initial waiver in 2022. Under this extended waiver, BDC filers wishing to avail themselves of the waiver must: (1) have their BDC filing certified by a qualified engineering professional, as defined by the 2022 Waiver; (2) preserve the network information for the applicable “as of” filing dates; and (3) provide this information to the FCC upon request.
