FCC Form 477 Due March 1

The due date for filing form 477 as mandated by law is March 1, 2007. This filing is done every six months and is required by the FCC. The instructions can be found at here on the FCC site.

Wireless ISP's and CLEC's are NOT exempt from this filing.

Facilities-based Providers of Broadband Connections to End User Locations: Entities that are facilities-based providers of broadband connections - which, for purposes of this information collection, are wired "lines" or wireless "channels" that enable the end user to receive information from and/or send information to the Internet at information transfer rates exceeding 200 kbps in at least one direction - must complete and file the applicable portions of this form for each state in which the entity provides one or more such connections to end user locations.

For the purposes of Form 477, an entity is a "facilities-based" provider of broadband connections to end user locations if it owns the portion of the physical facility that terminates at the end user location, if it obtains unbundled network elements (UNEs), special access lines, or other leased facilities that terminate at the end user location and provisions/equips them as broadband, or if it provisions/equips a broadband wireless channel to the end user location over licensed or unlicensed spectrum.

According to this definition, even ISP's buying DS1, DS3, and Metro E private lines from the LEC and CLEC that carriers IP to an end user must file.

It continues:

Such entities include incumbent and competitive local exchange carriers (LECs), cable system operators, fixed wireless service providers (including "wireless ISPs"), terrestrial and satellite mobile wireless service providers, MMDS providers, electric utilities, municipalities, and other entities. (Such entities do not include equipment suppliers unless the equipment supplier uses the equipment to provision a broadband connection that it offers to the public for sale. Such entities also do not include providers of fixed wireless services (e.g., "Wi-Fi" and other wireless ethernet, or wireless local area network, applications) that only enable local distribution and sharing of a premises broadband facility.) For such entities, the applicable portions of the form are: 1) the Cover Page; 2) Part I; 3) Part IV (if necessary); and the relevant portion(s) of Part V.

[Thanks to Rick Harnish of OnlyInternet Broadband & Wireless, Inc. and WISPA founder for posting this and making this post easier.]