February 2004 Announcements

Please click on the topic below to view the most recent announcements:

Following is a list of the documents or pages that have changed on this web site since the last posting on updates:

The document Frequently Asked Questions about Eligibility of Products and Services has been updated and reformatted into separate topic pages for easier use. Fiber Optics has been added as a new topic page; it includes two questions on dark fiber. In the future, questions and answers will be added to the bottom of each topic page as additional guidance becomes available.

The Sample Form 486 Notification Letter and the Sample Receipt Acknowledgment Letter have been replaced with the updated versions currently in use.

On December 23, 2003, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its Third Report and Order and Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) in Docket No. 02-6, FCC 03-323. The Third Report and Order addresses several matters related to the administration of the Schools and Libraries Support Mechanism. A summary of the Third Report and Order can be found in the posting FCC Releases Third Report and Order in the December 2003 archive on this web site.

The Third Report and Order and Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was published in the Federal Register, Vol. 69, No. 27 for Tuesday, February 10, 2004. The Third Report and Order can be found on pages 6181–6192. The Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking can be found on pages 6229–6238.

The effective date of the Third Report and Order is March 11, 2004, except for § 54.513(c), Resale and Transfer of Services, which contains information collection requirements that have not been approved by the Office of Management and Budget. The FCC will publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the effective date of that paragraph.

Comments on the FNPRM are due on or before March 11, 2004. Reply comments are due on or before April 12, 2004. For information on filing comments, please refer to III. Procedural Issues, C. Comment Filing Procedures on pages 6237–6238 in the notice.