The FCC has adopted an Order that approves the formulas for average-schedule interstate settlement disbursements in connection with the provision of interstate access services proposed by the National Exchange Carrier Association, Inc. (NECA). On December 19, 2024, NECA submitted proposed revisions to the average-schedule formulas used by carriers participating in the NECA tariff pools to calculate settlement disbursements. Although NECA largely employed the same methodology it used last year, this year, NECA has modified the methodology used in its consumer broadband-only loop (CBOL) formula. Specifically, NECA has designed a regression model to calculate each company’s CBOL factor as a function of their CBOL penetration rate. NECA projects that its proposed formula changes would result in a 6.92 percent overall increase in average-schedule settlement disbursements at constant demand for the study areas participating in NECA’s common line and traffic-sensitive pools.
The Order adopts NECA’s proposed average schedule formulas for a one-year period from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026.
