Ariz. Admin. Code § 14-2-A1204

Current through Register Vol. 30, No. 25, June 21, 2024

Section R14-2-A1204 - Funding of the AUSF

A. The AUSF shall be funded in accordance with this Article by all telecommunications service providers that interconnect to the public switched network. Within 30 days of the effective date of this Article, and thereafter on or before October 1 of each year, each telecommunications provider shall provide to the Administrator a list of all other telecommunications providers that interconnect to its facilities or network.

B. The AUSF shall be funded equally by toll and local customers of the providers of telecommunications services, and shall be assessed in the following manner:

1. Category 1 - Providers of basic local exchange service, as discussed in R14-2-1204(B)(1)(a), and other service providers as required under R14-2-1204(B)(1)(a)(i) or permitted under R14-2-1204(B)(3)(b), shall be considered providers of Category 1 service.

a. One-half of the AUSF funding requirement will be collected through Category 1 service providers. Category 1 AUSF assessment will be based upon access lines and interconnecting trunks, and assessed by providers of local switched access as either an access line or interconnecting trunk surcharge. The "per access line" surcharge to be in place during a given year will be calculated by the Administrator using the total number of access lines and equivalent access lines deriving from interconnecting trunks that were in service for all Category 1 service providers on October 1 of the previous year. Access lines shall include business and residence lines, public access lines, and other identifiable access lines. All wireless providers including but not limited to paging and other Commercial Mobile Radio Service providers, that interconnect to the public switched network will contribute to the AUSF under the requirements of Category 1. The number of interconnecting trunks obtained from the local access provider by the wireless provider shall be utilized in conjunction with a Conversion Factor to determine AUSF support from such wireless provider by means of a surcharge on such interconnecting trunks. A wireless provider that fails to contribute to the AUSF as required by this Article shall be subject to termination of its interconnection arrangements pursuant to R14-2-1214(C).

b. On or before November 1 of each year, each Category 1 local switched access service provider shall provide to the Administrator the number of access lines and number of interconnecting trunks that were in service on October 1 of that year. The Administrator will use these numbers together with the Conversion Factor in calculating the per access line surcharge and per interconnecting trunk surcharge for the following year. The Administrator will multiply the total number of interconnecting trunks by the Conversion Factor to obtain an equivalent number of access lines for the purpose of calculating the surcharges.

2. Category 2 - Providers of intrastate toll service, or other service providers as permitted under R14-2-1204(B)(3), shall be considered providers of Category 2 service and shall be assessed AUSF charges as follows:

a. One-half of the AUSF funding requirement will be collected through Category 2 service providers. The Category 2 AUSF assessment will be based on total Arizona intrastate toll revenue, and assessed as a percent of revenue. The percent of revenue assessment to be in place during a given year will be calculated by the Administrator using the annual Arizona intrastate revenue for all Category 2 service providers for the previous year.

b. On or before November 1 of each year, each Category 2 service provider shall report to the Administrator the total Arizona intrastate revenue collected between August 1 of the current year and August 1 of the previous year. The Administrator will use this revenue so reported to calculate the AUSF assessment rate for the following year.

3. New telecommunications service providers.

a. Telecommunications providers that begin providing basic local exchange service after the effective date of this Article shall be assessed AUSF charges pursuant to R14-2-1204(B)(1). Telecommunications providers that begin providing toll service after the effective date of this Article shall be assessed AUSF charges pursuant to R14-2-1204(B)(2).

b. All other telecommunications service providers that interconnect to the public switched network and begin providing telecommunications service after the effective date of this Article, shall choose to be considered either a Category 1, Category 2, or both Category 1 and Category 2 service provider. Such election shall be made in writing to the Administrator within 30 days of beginning to provide telecommunications service in Arizona, with a copy to the Director of Utilities. Written concurrence of the Director of Utilities must be received by the Administrator for such selection to be effective. Such selection will be irrevocable for a period of at least three years.

4. A telecommunications provider that provides both Category 1 and Category 2 services shall be assessed AUSF charges pursuant to both R14-2-1204(B)(1) and R14-2-1204(B)(2).

Ariz. Admin. Code § R14-2-A1204

Renumbered from R14-2-1204 amended by final rulemaking at 23 A.A.R. 2822, effective 9/20/2017.