On May 17, 2022 The Broadband Data Task Force (“BDTF”), Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (“WTB”), Wireline Competition Bureau (“WCB”), and the Office of Economics and Analytics (“OEA”) released a Public Notice (“Notice”) seeking comment on a Petition for Declaratory Ruling or Limited Waiver (“Petition”) filed by the Competitive Carriers Association (“CCA”), which asks the Commission to clarify that Broadband Data Collection (“BDC”) filings may be certified by either a qualified professional engineer or an otherwise-qualified engineer that is not a licensed professional engineer accredited by a state licensure board. You may recall that when the FCC adopted the BDC rules, it required any party submitting BDC data to include with their BDC submission a certification from a qualified professional engineer that states that the engineer had examined the provider’s data and that it was accurate.
CCA’s Petition argues that accessing certifications from licensed PEs will prove unduly burdensome for many carriers, including CCA members, because they are expensive and many small carriers do not have a PE on staff. CCA notes that many radio frequency engineers have the same or greater experience and qualifications as engineers that hold a general license through the PE exam process, and thus entities submitting BDC data should be able to rely on any engineer to certify their data. Alternatively, CCA asks the FCC to grant a limited waiver of the requirement to allow mobile providers that do not have access to a licensed PE to certify their submissions with an engineer that has qualifications directly relevant to broadband availability assessments.
Comment are Due: 14 days after publication in the Federal Register
Reply Comments are Due: 21 days after publication in the Federal Register
Please Contact Us if you have any questions.