The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, in which it proposes to extend the freeze of jurisdictional separations category relationships and cost allocation factors in Part 36 of the FCC’s rules for three years, through June 30, 2017. It also proposes to open a filing “window” for rate-of-return incumbent local exchange carriers (LECs) to file waiver requests to unfreeze their jurisdictional separations category relationships. Jurisdictional separations is the process by which ILECs apportion regulated common costs of network facilities and services to either the intrastate or interstate jurisdiction. The FCC first froze the jurisdictional separations rules in 2001, and has subsequently issued numerous orders continuing the freeze.
