Reminder: New FCC Form 477 Due October 1, 2014

Please be reminded of the upcoming due date for the Report listed below:

Form 477: Local Competition and Broadband Report

The Local Competition and Broadband Report, containing data as of June 30, 2014, must be filed by October 1, 2014.  This report previously collected only data about the number and types of broadband and voice subscribers served by reporting entities.  As of 2014, however, the FCC assumed responsibility for the collection of data on broadband deployment, which was previously overseen by the National Telecommunications & Information Administration.  As a result, in addition to collecting broadband and voice telephone subscription data , the new Form 477 will collect data on the locations where broadband facilities are deployed, which will be used to populate and update the National Broadband Map.

This report must be filed by:

(1) Facilities-based providers of broadband connections (i.e., faster than 200 kbps, in at least one direction) to end users;

(2) Providers of wired or fixed wireless local exchange telephone service to end users;

(3) Providers of interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service; and

(4) Facilities-based providers of mobile telephony (mobile voice) service.

Entities required to submit FCC Form 477 should pay close attention to a number of changes to the filing requirements including, but not limited to, the following:

• Filers will submit the required deployment and subscription data on a nationwide, rather than state-by-state basis;
• Fixed and mobile broadband service data (coverage areas and number of connections) must be provided in terms of advertised upload/download speed, rather than speed tiers;
• Providers of mobile voice services must report coverage areas by technology and spectrum band; and
• Providers of fixed voice and interconnected VoIP services must report the number of subscriptions by census tract.

The Form 477 filing must be made via the FCC’s new online filing interface, which is available here.  Additional information about the revised data submissions and filing instructions are available here.

Please be advised that attorneys in Kelley Drye &Warren’s Communications Practice Group are experienced in addressing Federal Communications Commission Form 477 reporting issues and are able to assist clients in filing the reports.

For further information on this filing, please contact your usual Kelley Drye attorney.