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Welcome to the home page for the Wireline Competition Bureau's (WCB) cost model virtual workshop, through which the Bureau is soliciting input from the public on Connect America Fund (Connect America) Phase II cost model design and inputs. A notice announcing this virtual workshop was released on September 12, 2012.

The virtual workshop will take place over a period of weeks sufficient to allow public input on all material issues. Discussion on multiple related topics will be facilitated through the various subject matter-specific discussion forums listed below. The Bureau will announce which topics will be discussed in which timeframes by Public Notice and on this page.

If you would like to make longer posts, we encourage you to place them in the Commission’s public comment site (ECFS) as an ex parte and place a summary of the post with the relevant URL in the forum. Similarly, if you would like to include an attachment to a post, include the URL for the attachment in your post. To ensure security, the forums will not support live links or attachments. ECFS can be reached here.

At the close of the virtual workshop, an electronic copy of all posts will be placed in the official record of the relevant dockets, much as a transcript of a hearing would be placed in the record.

If you have any questions about the format or operation of the virtual workshop or have any difficulties accessing any of the subject matter forums, please contact Katie King at 202-418-1500, katie.king@fcc.gov.

Comment Guidelines

Comments are moderated for conformity to the following guidelines:

Please provide comments to the issue below as part of the 2012 WCB cost model virtual workshop for inclusion in the record. Comments are moderated for conformity to the workshop’s guidelines.

Background

The Bureau believes most of the hardware necessary in each wire center is captured by the requirements for voice or inter-office transport.

Hybrid Cost Proxy Model: The HCPM envisions a network that requires a circuit switch for voice calls, digital loop carriers (DLCs), and serving area interfaces (SAIs). The HCPM also includes the costs associated with the main distribution frame (MDF), the purchase and installation of power equipment costs, and appropriate engineering costs.

CQBAT: The CQBAT model includes costs for an all-IP network, including routers, Ethernet switches, and rack space, in addition to costs for buildings, land, and power. For fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) configurations, the cost of optical line terminators (OLTs) is also included.

Please provide comments to the issue below as part of the 2012 WCB cost model virtual workshop for inclusion in the record. Comments are moderated for conformity to the workshop’s guidelines.

Background

Hybrid Cost Proxy Model: When adopting the HCPM, the Commission concluded that it should use geocode data to the extent available for determining customer locations. The Commission later affirmed this conclusion, but found that "no source of actual geocode data has yet been made adequately accessible for public review." The Commission expected that a source of accurate and verifiable actual geocode data would be identified in the future for use in calculating federal support.

Please provide comments to the issue below as part of the 2012 WCB cost model virtual workshop for inclusion in the record. Comments are moderated for conformity to the workshop’s guidelines.

Background

Hybrid Cost Proxy Model: The HCPM sizes inter-office transport based on voice connections. The model assumes the use of state-of-the-art SONET rings. The Commission concluded there should be an allocation of a reasonable portion of the joint and common costs of the switching and inter-office functions to the cost of providing the supported services, i.e., voice telephony. Moreover, the model uses the Local Exchange Routing Guide (LERG) database to determine host-remote relationships.

CQBAT: The CQBAT model uses a tandem switch—central office switch relationship to determine which central offices tie to which aggregation points. This information comes from the LERG database. The model assumes Ethernet-based fiber connections among wire centers and between wire centers and tandem switches, including the use of reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers (ROADMs) and wave division multiplexing (WDM) gateways. Additionally, the model connects each hierarchy to the nearest (lowest cost) Internet access point regardless of ownership. The CQBAT model also uses routing along roads to determine the cost of deploying fiber to make connections, and includes Broadband Remote Access Servers (BRAS) and/or gateway costs.