The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) has denied several pending requests for review of audit findings related to whether certain mixed-use private line revenues should be considered interstate for universal service purposes. Each of the petitions argues that the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) misapplied the “ten percent rule” when reclassifying as interstate private line revenues that the petitioners reported as intrastate on their FCC Form 499-A filings. Specifically, the petitioners contend that revenues associated with private line circuits that have physical end points located in the same state should be classified as intrastate. The ten percent rule requires that costs of mixed-use private or WATS lines be directly assigned to the intrastate jurisdiction when interstate traffic comprises no more than ten percent of total traffic on the line, and to the interstate jurisdiction when interstate traffic exceeds ten percent. The Bureau has found that USAC appropriately relied on the ten percent rule to reassign these private line revenues to interstate jurisdiction. However, the Bureau has determined that USAC may have overlooked other relevant evidence that particular private lines were properly categorized as intrastate. Accordingly, the Bureau has remanded the requests for review to USAC for further consideration.
