• PY4 Wave 6 Scheduled for Release
• IMPORTANT: Form 486 Filing Deadline – October 28, 2001

The following is a summary of the E-rate News for the Week of September 24, 2001, prepared by E-Rate Central. Official SLD news appears in the “What’s New!” section of the SLD’s Web site . Additional and archived information appears elsewhere on our Web site .

PY4 Wave 6 Scheduled for Release

Wave 6 of Funding Commitment Decision Letters (“FCDLs”) is scheduled to be mailed on Monday, October 1. Total funding in this wave is $385.5 million of which almost 65% is for New York City schools. Cumulative funding for PY4 now stands at $1.565 billion.

Funding for internal connections is still being awarded only to applicants at the 90% discount level.

In order to allow funded applicants sufficient time to file Form 486 certifications by October 28 (see below) as required under the Children’s Internet Protection Act (“CIPA”), the SLD is temporarily suspending PY4 funding waves. Wave 7 will not be released until at least October 29, 2001.

IMPORTANT: Form 486 Filing Deadline – October 28, 2001

Under FCC rules, any E-rate applicant awarded funding in Waves 1-6 must file an associated Form 486 (which includes the requisite CIPA-compliance certification) by October 28, 2001. Since this date falls on a Sunday, the effective deadline for postmarking a Form 486 is October 27.

Any applicant who misses the Form 486 deadline will be funded for PY4 discounts only from the actual later date that the Form 486 was submitted. This could mean the loss of discounts on four months or more of services extending back as far as July 1, 2001.

As with all E-rate filing deadlines, we strongly recommend that all Form 486s be sent via express mail so that both pickup (the equivalent of “postmark”) and delivery dates can be documented.

Consortiums filing Form 486s for Internet access and/or internal connection services are reminded that they will have to certify that they have received Form 479 CIPA certifications from all consortium members (even those receiving only telecom services). Consortiums that have not yet solicited Form 479s from their members may encounter Form 486 deadline problems.

Because of the importance of the Form 486 deadline, applicants who have not yet received FCDLs for PY4 should confirm that they have, indeed, not been funded in Waves 1-6. This can be done by checking the funding section of the SLD Web site which, by Monday, should reflect cumulative funding through Wave 6 (see Funding Section). Any applicant that has been funded, but has not received a FCDL, can request a duplicate by calling the SLD’s Client Service Bureau (888-203-8100).

Applicants who receive PY4 funding awards after October 28 (Wave 7 or later) will have 120 days from the associated FCDL date to submit associated Form 486s.