10. Ex parte Communications
Per Rule 7(d) of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure, ex parte communications are allowed without restriction or reporting requirement in any quasi-legislative proceeding. Therefore, there are no such restrictions or reporting requirements applied to this proceeding.
Therefore, IT IS ORDERED that:
1. A rulemaking is instituted for the purpose of reviewing the California High Cost Fund-A Program.
2. The issues to be considered in this proceeding are defined in the Preliminary Scoping Memo as a specific need to take any warranted remedial action regarding the subsidy mechanism for the California High Cost Fund-A program and a need to thoroughly review the program in light of market and technological developments.
3. The Executive Director shall cause this Order Instituting Rulemaking to be served on all telecommunications carriers, California High Cost Fund-A Administrative Committee, and parties on the service list of Rulemaking 01-08-002 and Application 99-09-044.
4. Any person who wishes to become a party to this proceeding shall, within fifteen (15) days after the issuance of this order, send a request to the Commission's Process Office via electronic mail (process_office@cpuc.ca.gov) or by postal mail (Process Office, CPUC, 505 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, California 94102) to be placed on the official service list in this proceeding. Parties who only wish to monitor the proceedings, but not participate as an active party shall indicate that they be added to the "Information Only" section of the service list. The service list will be posted on the Commission's website: www.cpuc.ca.gov prior to the time comments are filed pursuant to Ordering Paragraph 8.
5. All parties shall abide by the Commission's new electronic service rules contained in Rule 2.3.1 of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure.
6. We preliminarily determine the category of this rulemaking to be "quasi-legislative" and preliminarily determine that hearings are unnecessary. Parties objecting to these determinations shall include their objections in their opening comments.
7. Any party who believes that an evidentiary hearing is required shall file a motion requesting such a hearing no later than 10 business days after reply comments are due. Any such motion must identify and describe (i) the material issues of fact, (ii) the evidence the party proposes to introduce at the requested hearing, and (iii) the schedule for conducting the hearing. Any right that a party may otherwise have to an evidentiary hearing will be waived if the party does not submit a timely motion requesting an evidentiary hearing.
8. Respondents shall include the 14 small Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers.
9. Respondents shall, and other parties may, file opening comments on the issues identified in this rulemaking according to the schedule set forth in this order.
10. The assigned Commissioner and Administrative Law Judge will set the schedule for this proceeding by subsequent rulings, as warranted, to develop the record and to bring this rulemaking to a conclusion.
This order is effective today.
Dated , at San Francisco, California.
Appendix A
Wireless Subscribership Facts
Facts |
Jun-10 |
Jun-05 |
Jun-00 |
Jun-95 |
Jun-90 |
Jun-85 |
Jan-85 |
Wireless Subscriber Connections (Millions) |
292.8 |
194.4 |
97 |
28.1 |
4.4 |
0.2 |
0.09 |
Wireless Penetration (% of total U.S. Population) |
93 |
66 |
34 |
11 |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
Wireless-Only Households (% of U.S. Households) |
0.245 |
0.077 |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
Average Local Monthly Bill (June Survey) |
$47.47 |
$49.49 |
$45.15 |
$52.45 |
$83.94 |
n/a |
n/a |
Minutes of Use (annualized) |
2.26T |
1.26T |
194.95B |
31.5B |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
Annualized SMS Message Total |
1.81T |
57.2B |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
Note: |
B=Billion, T=Trillion | ||||||
Wireless Substitution: Early Release of Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, July - December 2009, National Center for Health Statistics, May 2010. | |||||||
Source: |
1. http://www.ctia.org/media/industry_info/index.cfm/AID/10323 |
||||||
2. CTIA Survey Mid Year 2010 |
|||||||
3. http://www.ctia.org/advocacy/research/index.cfm/AID/10323 |
|||||||
(END OF APPENDIX A)
Appendix B
CHCF-A Support to Small ILECs (In Dollars)
1998 - 2010
(END OF APPENDIX B)
Appendix C
Small ILECs' Revenue
Requirement Requests to the CHCF-A (In Dollars)*
*As made by each carrier before the means test and waterfall provision are applied.
(END OF APPENDIX C)
Appendix D
Number of Access Lines Per Small ILEC
(END OF APPENDIX D)
Appendix E
History of CHCF-A Surcharge Rate
(END OF APPENDIX E)
Appendix F
Communications Expenditures per Household per Month in Dollars
Year |
Landline Telephone Services |
Cellular Telephone Services |
Internet Access Services |
Total Telephone and Internet Access |
1984 |
$40 |
$0 |
$0 |
$40 |
1990 |
$51 |
$2 |
$0 |
$53 |
1995 |
$62 |
$9 |
$1 |
$72 |
2000 |
$77 |
$26 |
$13 |
$116 |
2005 |
$56 |
$51 |
$22 |
$128 |
2009 |
$54 |
$67 |
$31 |
$152 |
Source: Number of households from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey. Expenditure data
from the Bureau Of Economic Analysis, National Economic Accounts, Table 2.4.5U. Personal
Consumption Expenditures by Type of Product. See http://www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/nipa_underlying/SelectTable.asp last visited June 8, 2010. In Trends in Telephony September 2010, FCC Data extracted from Table 3.4.
(END OF APPENDIX F)
Appendix G
CHCF-A Small ILECs' Basic Residential Service Rates
As of February 2010
Carrier |
Basic Residential Rate |
Calaveras Telephone Company |
$20.25 |
Cal-Ore Telephone Company |
$20.25 |
Ducor Telephone Company |
$20.25 |
Foresthill Telephone Company |
$16.05 |
Happy Valley Telephone Company |
$16.85 |
Hornitos Telephone Company |
$16.05 |
Kerman Telephone Company |
$19.40 |
Pinnacles Telephone Company |
$20.25 |
Ponderosa Telephone Company |
$20.25 |
Sierra Telephone Company |
$16.85 |
Siskiyou Telephone Company |
$16.85 |
Verizon West Coast Incorporated |
$16.85 |
Volcano Telephone Company |
$16.85 |
Winterhaven Telephone Company |
$17.50 |
(END OF APPENDIX G)
Appendix H
Proceeding Flow Chart
(END OF APPENDIX H)
Appendix I
Small ILECs' Key Financial Statistics
CHCF-A Subsidized vs. Unsubsidized
Table 1: Access Lines
Table 2: CHCF-A
Table 3: Revenue
Table 4: Expense
Table 5: Income
Table 6: Plant
** Total Plant in Service
*** Central Office
Table 7: Rate of Return
**** Total Company Rate of Return (regulated and unregulated)
(END OF APPENDIX I)
Appendix J
Comparison of High Cost Funds A and B Monthly Funding
(END OF APPENDIX J)
