• FCC grace period for late funding commitments
• Pager eligibility: airtime vs. pager rental

The following is a summary of the E-rate News for the Week of December 27, 1999, prepared by E-Rate Central. Official SLD news appears in the "What’s New!" section of the SLD’s web site. Additional information and interpretations appear in elsewhere on this Web site.

FCC grace period for late funding commitments

Earlier this week, the FCC waived its deadline for the implementation of non-recurring services for program year one ("PY1") so as to grant applicants 180 days from the date of their Funding Commitment Decisions Letters ("FCDLs"). This action will directly benefit a small class of applicants whose FCDLs for PY1 were delayed (or have yet to be issued) as a result of successful appeals or other problems. The FCC action also has precedent-setting implications for dealing with funding delays for other services and subsequent program years.

Background: E-rate rules require that discount awards be used only for services received within the applicable funding year. However, because most funding awards for PY1 were not issued until early in 1999, it quickly became clear that many non-recurring services (i.e., system installations) originally scheduled for PY1, but delayed pending E-rate funding, would not be completed by June 30, 1999. As a result, the FCC had earlier granted a grace period through September 30 for such installations.

Although the September 30 extension allowed many applicants to complete funded projects over the summer, it was not sufficient for a smaller number of applicants who received their FCDLs still later in 1999 (or who may still be waiting). Several reasons could account for late FCDLs including the wait for favorable decisions on funding appeals or on service provider changes. The new FCC waiver should resolve many of these late funding problems.

What the FCC decision does not do is: (a) provide PY1 relief on late approvals of retroactive discounts for recurring services now that the BEAR deadline of December 15 has passed; or (b) deal prospectively with PY2 funding delays on pending appeals. Based on the precedent of this decision, however, we suspect that both issues will be satisfactorily resolved (see FCC decision).

Pager eligibility: airtime vs. pager rental

Paging services, as opposed to the cost of the pagers themselves, are eligible for E-rate discounts if used for educational purposes (i.e., not for bus drivers and maintenance personnel). Unfortunately, certain paging bills (including those of New York State OGS contractor Arch Paging) show listings for "pager rental" or "leased display" at rates that actually cover both the rental costs of the pager (ineligible) and the airtime service fees (eligible). To qualify for discounts, the actual service fees must be broken out.

One approach to separating out the eligible airtime charges is to ask for documentation from the paging supplier. Another approach, for applicants receiving service under the State OGS contract, is to add up the cost of the airtime-related services as listed in the "Prices and Pricing Information" on the OGS web site. The paging prices shown include both a "Leased and airtime…" charge and a "Air Time for Customer-Owned and Maintained Pager." The latter figure effectively represents the standalone charge for paging service, exclusive of the pager lease. A small Universal Service Charge, applicable to all pagers, would also be eligible. Other eligible options would include group paging, regional and nationwide paging, and 800 number assignment fees. Ineligible items would include pager insurance and voice mail.

Happy New Year to all!