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FCC Bureau Denies ACS Relief From Geocode Duty to Pinpoint CAF I Broadband Locations

FCC staff denied Alaska Communications Services' request to temporarily waive a Connect America Fund Phase I duty to pinpoint subsidized broadband deployment with geocodes for 2,379 locations (latitude and longitude coordinates to the sixth decimal place). "ACS had until July…

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1, 2016 to provide the required information, but it failed to do so and filed this waiver petition on March 14, 2017 -- more than nine months" later, said a Wireline Bureau order in Thursday's Daily Digest. "ACS has not shown good cause for relief from its obligation to report location data that is critical to ensuring accountability of high-cost support." Citing logistical challenges and costs due to extreme conditions and remote locations, the telecom provider requested extension until Oct. 31, 2018, so field technicians doing maintenance could collect geocodes on a rolling basis, rather than make special trips (see 1703150048). The order said Universal Services Administrative Co. cited options to "use 'web-based maps and imagery' to pinpoint locations or employ 'an address geocoder program to convert addresses into [latitude and longitude] coordinates.'" ACS must now "file the required geocoded location information within six weeks." The company didn't comment.