The FCC has granted waiver requests filed by Bloomingdale Telephone Company, State Telephone Company, and ComSouth Corporation related to the annual filing deadline for broadband deployment reports. These eligible telecommunications carriers are required to annually report their deployment through the High-Cost Universal Broadband portal in exchange for receiving high-cost support through the Universal Service Fund. State sought relief doe an incorrect filing related to the 2018 deadline and sought relief related to the 2019 filing deadline for failing to timely file. Bloomingdale and ComSouth sought relief from the 2019 deadline for failing to timely file.
The failure to meet these filing deadlines resulted in reductions of support beginning in January 2020. The petitioners requested relief from the Wireline Competition Bureau, but the Bureau denied the requests. Those decisions were appealed to the full Commission which determined in granting the waiver requests that there was reasonable confusion concerning the filing obligations at the time and thus waivers are warranted.
