Limited Waiver of Engineering Certification for Broadband Data Collection Extended with Conditions

The Federal Communications Commission's Broadband Data Task Force, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, the Wireline Competition Bureau, and the Office of Economics and Analytics responded to a Petition for Extension of Waiver filed by the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) and USTelecom – The Broadband Association (USTelecom). The Petitioners request that the FCC renew the 2022 Waiver that temporarily waived the Commission’s requirement that the accuracy of a provider’s biannual Broadband Data Collection (BDC) filings be certified by a Professional Engineer (PE), subject to the condition that such filings be certified by an otherwise-qualified engineer who does not have the PE credential. The FCC grants the Petition to extend the limited waiver of the Commission’s rule for three filing periods (data as of December 31, 2023, June 30, 2024, and December 31, 2024), subject to certain conditions. Any provider availing itself of this waiver must: have its BDC submission certified by an engineering professional with the qualifications specified in the 2022 Waiver; preserve, for the applicable “as-of” filing date(s), certain categories of underlying network information for each submission filed under the waiver; and upon request, expeditiously provide this network information to the FCC.