December 16, 2022 – The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau and the Office of Economics and Analytics have announced the 2023 reasonable comparability benchmarks for fixed voice and broadband services, and the minimum usage allowance for fixed broadband services, for eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) that are subject to  broadband public interest obligations.[1]

The ETCs that are subject to the reasonable comparability benchmarks are rate-of-return ILECs, incumbent price-cap carriers receiving Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II support, Rural Broadband Experiment providers, CAF Phase II Auction winners, and Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Auction winners.

Data collected in the most recent urban rate survey, upon which the benchmarks are based, are available online.

The reasonable comparability benchmarks for 2023 are as follows:

Voice Service Reasonable Comparability Benchmark – $59.62

The 2023 urban average monthly rate is $36.73. This makes the reasonable comparability benchmark for voice services, which is two standard deviations above the urban average, $59.62. Each ETC providing fixed voice services must certify, using FCC Form 481, no later than July 1, 2023, that the pricing of its basic residential voice services is no more than $59.62.

Broadband Service Reasonable Comparability Benchmark – Variable

The reasonable comparability benchmark for broadband services varies depending upon the service’s download and upload bandwidths and usage allowance. There are separate benchmarks for Alaska and the rest of the U.S. To provide an example, for broadband service with 100/20 Mbps speeds and an unlimited monthly usage allowance, the reasonable comparability benchmark for the U.S. is $105.03, and the benchmark for Alaska is $124.06. The Wireline Bureau has created a tool that service providers can use to calculate benchmarks for specific service characteristics. The table below from the Public Notice provides the 2023 benchmark for several different broadband service offerings:

Fixed Broadband Service Minimum Usage Allowance – 600 GB

For 2023, the fixed broadband service minimum monthly usage allowance is 600 GB. However, the minimum usage allowance for carriers receiving support from the RDOF is the greater of 250 GB or the average usage calculated by the Wireline Bureau for the Minimum and Baseline tiers and 2 Terabytes (TB) for the Above-Baseline and Gigabit tiers. Additional information on how the minimum usage allowance benchmarks were created is available from the Public Notice.

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[1] Wireline Competition Bureau And Office Of Economics And Analytics Announce Results Of 2023 Urban Rate Survey For Fixed Voice And Broadband Services, Posting Of Survey Data And Explanatory Notes, And Required Minimum Usage Allowance For Eligible Telecommunications Carriers, WC Docket No. 10-90, Public Notice, DA 22-1338 (Dec. 16, 2022), https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-22-1338A1.pdf.