86-324.02.

Ongoing high-cost support; speed tests; speed requirements.

(1) Any recipient of ongoing high-cost support from the Nebraska Telecommunications Universal Service Fund shall agree to submit to speed tests as determined by the commission. Upon the commission's request, such recipient shall conduct the speed tests and submit the results to the commission. The speed tests shall be conducted for one week using a random sample of locations of consumers who subscribe to services provided over infrastructure for which ongoing high-cost support is received.

(2) For purposes of this subsection, broadband serviceable location means a business or residential location in Nebraska at which fixed broadband access service is or is able to be installed. Beginning eighteen months after April 16, 2024, the commission shall not provide ongoing high-cost support from the Nebraska Telecommunications Universal Service Fund for any broadband serviceable location not capable of access to the Internet at speeds of at least one hundred megabits per second for downloading and at least twenty megabits per second for uploading, except that:

(a) If a broadband serviceable location is subject to a federally enforceable commitment for deployment of infrastructure capable of access to the Internet at speeds of at least one hundred megabits per second for downloading and at least twenty megabits per second for uploading, the commission shall continue to provide ongoing high-cost support from the fund so long as the recipient of the ongoing high-cost support is in compliance with the deployment obligations of such federally enforceable commitment and the requirements of the fund; and

(b) Beginning January 1, 2029, the commission shall not provide ongoing high-cost support for any broadband serviceable location not capable of access to the Internet at speeds of at least one hundred megabits per second for downloading and at least twenty megabits per second for uploading, notwithstanding any federally enforceable commitment for deployment.