OUS Fund - Distribution (Line Count) Worksheet Instructions

Form and Schedule  

Information

Only eligible certified local exchange carriers (LECs) are required to file the OUS 3 Worksheet in order to receive OUS funds.

Block 1: Requests the year and month for the line count information provided in Block 2 and a check-off box indicating whether the line count data is original or revised. The OUS identification code as shown at the upper right corner allows line-count information to be matched with the TSP identification information provided on the OUS 1 Worksheet.

Block 2: Requests month-end working line count information by wire center support area. A working line means a revenue-producing loop or network-access channel that connects a customer’s location with the LEC’s serving wire center. Station lines on the line-side of a key system or PBX are considered CPE inside wire and are not counted as working lines or loops. A support area is a geographic area for which cost of service is defined and high-cost universal service support is calculated. Presently the support area is equal to the incumbent LEC’s wire center boundary.

Customer access lines, in order to be counted on this form, must comply with the definition of basic telephone service as provided in Section 1. A list of eligible basic retail services is set forth in OAR 860-032-0260. The list includes single party residential and business services (including PBX trunk and complex business service) and public access line (PAL) service. The lines are categorized on the OUS 3 worksheet as residential and business in Columns (b) and (c), respectively.

OAR 860-032-0260 also provides a list of ineligible non-basic retail services. The list includes (1) private lines or dedicated point-to-point circuits, (2) closed-end WATS/800 access lines, (3) foreign exchange service, (4) integrated services digital network (ISDN), (5) digital subscriber line (xDSL) services, (6) frame relay services, (7) packet switched services, (8) multi-party services and (9) Centrex-type services. Also excluded are lines associated with wholesale service provision such as UNEs and carrier access services. Access lines associated with these services may not be counted on this form.

In addition to the above retail service eligibility criteria, the source of the access line facility must be owned by the LEC or obtained as a UNE lease from an incumbent LEC (ILEC) in order to receive OUS support. The physical line source is identified in Columns (e) and (f).

Special considerations for UNE leases and resold services are set forth below:

UNE loop lease: The incumbent LEC wholesaler cannot count UNE loops leased on this form because UNE leases are not retail services. The eligible competitive LEC, however, may count the UNE loops to the extent they are used in the provision of an eligible basic retail service. Because there may be sharing of the OUS support amount between the incumbent and competitive LECs, it is important that the source of line counts be noted in Columns (e) and (f) of the OUS 3 Worksheet. OUS support sharing is prorated based on the level of the platform UNE price relative to the benchmark and OUS economic cost.

Resale services: Line counts associated with services provisioned by a reseller of another carrier’s basic retail service cannot be counted by the reseller on the OUS 3 Worksheet. This is because only the retail service is being resold—not the loop facility. The underlying carrier, however, may count the lines used in basic service provision. Because resellers do not have line counts per se, they do not affect the classification of lines in Columns (b) and (c) below.

Column (a): Requests identification of the ILEC’s wire center support area. The wire center identification code generally equals the common language location code. Line counts are entered by support area and categorized in Columns (b) and (c). The physical source of the line, as owned or leased UNE, is entered in Columns (e) and (f), respectively.

Column (b): Requests the number of basic service residential lines that are provisioned via either owned or leased UNE loops.

Column (c): Requests the number of basic service business (i.e., lines categorized as non-residential) lines that are provisioned via either owned or leased UNE loops.

Column (d): Is the total basic telephone service line count in that support area.

Column (e): Is the number of lines identified in Column (d) that are owned by the LEC.

Column (f): Is the number of lines identified in Column (d) that are leased as UNEs from the underlying incumbent LEC.

The certifying officer or designated manager of the company must sign and date the OUS 3 worksheet certifying its accuracy to the best of his/her knowledge. For further information, see FAQs: OUS Support and the OUS 3 Line Count Worksheet and OUS Support by Wire Center.