(a) Equal access investment includes only initial incremental expenditures for hardware and other equipment related directly to the provision of equal access which would not be required to upgrade the capabilities of the office involved absent the provision of equal access. Equal access investment is limited to such expenditures for converting central offices which serve competitive interexchange carriers or where there has been a bona fide request for conversion to equal access.

(b) Equal access investment is first segregated from all other amounts in the primary accounts.

(c) The equal access investment determined in this manner is allocated between the jurisdictions on the basis of relative state and interstate equal access traffic including interstate interLATA equal access traffic, intrastate interLATA equal access traffic, and BOC interstate corridor toll traffic as well as AT&T and OCC intraLATA equal access usage. Local exchange traffic and BOC intraLATA toll traffic is excluded. In the case of independent telephone companies, intrastate toll service provided by the independent local exchange company is excluded in determining intrastate usage, but intrastate toll service provided by long distance carriers affiliated with the local exchange company is included.

(d) Effective July 1, 2001, through December 31, 2024, all study areas shall apportion Equal Access Equipment, as specified in paragraph (a) of this section, among the jurisdictions using the relative state and interstate equal access traffic, as specified in paragraph (c) of this section, for the twelve-month period ending December 31, 2000.

[52 FR 17229, May 6, 1987, as amended at 53 FR 33012, Aug. 29, 1988; 66 FR 33206, June 21, 2001; 75 FR 30301, June 1, 2010; 76 FR 30841, May 27, 2011; 79 FR 36237, June 26, 2014]