On April 27, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission released an Order granting a request for review and waiver of a USAC denial of funding for Park Hill School District in Missouri. In the decision, the FCC clarifies that ineligible third-party entities may share applicant-owned networks provided that a fair share of the costs are allocated:
[W]e clarify that E-Rate eligible entities may share their self-provisioned networks with ineligible third-party entities so long as the ineligible entities pay their fair share of the undiscounted costs associated with the network, including costs associated with the initial construction of the network and/or the ongoing maintenance and operation of the network.
The FCC further clarifies that E-rate rules “do not require E-Rate applicants to exclusively own and use the entire self-provisioned network,” but that an applicant who “seeks to share the E-Rate supported network, or other supported services and equipment, with an ineligible entity bears the burden of demonstrating the reasonableness of the allocation methodology used to determine the ineligible entity’s fair share of the undiscounted costs associated with the shared network.”
The Park Hill decision may be viewed here
