Public Notice

The the proposed universal service contribution factor for the second quarter of 2020 will be 0.196 or 19.6 percent. Total Projected Collected Interstate and International End-User Telecommunications Revenues for Second Quarter 2020: $10.865132 billion. 

The Federal Communications Commission authorized $521,000 in funding over ten years to expand broadband in Idaho’s Benewah County. With this tranche of FCC support, Tribal provider Red Spectrum Communications has committed to providing broadband at speeds of at least 25/3 Mbps to an estimated 185 unserved rural homes and businesses, some of which are in Tribal areas. This announcement brings the total Connect America Fund Phase II auction support for Idaho to $14,320,176 for 10,921 locations.

To minimize potential disruptions caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the Federal Communications Commission directs the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) to extend the deadline for E-Rate applicants to submit their Funding Year (FY) 2020 FCC Form 471 applications by an additional 35 days. E-Rate applicants will now have until Wednesday, April 29, 2020, at 11:59 p.m.

This Public Notice serves as notice that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, in consultation with Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, has appointed Working Group members to serve on the Task Force for Reviewing the Connectivity and Technology Needs of Precision Agriculture in the United States (Precision Ag Connectivity Task Force or Task Force).

As the number of reported COVID-19 cases in the US increases and the World Health Organization has classified COVID-19 as a pandemic, the Federal Communications Commission, effective immediately, will no longer allow visitors into our facilities, absent special permission from the Office of Managing Director. No visitor will be granted such permission unless there is a clear operational necessity.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau announces the E-Rate and Rural Health Care (RHC) programs’ funding caps for funding year 2020. The new caps represent a 1.8% inflation-adjusted increase in each program cap from funding year 2019. The E-Rate program funding cap for funding year 2020 is $4,226,120,519. The new cap represents a 1.8% inflation-adjusted increase in the $4,151,395,402 cap from funding year 2019. The RHC Program funding cap for funding year 2020 is $604,759,306. The cap for upfront payments and multi-year commitments under the Healthcare Connect

The Federal Communications Commission announced the conclusion of bidding in Auction 103, which made 3,400 megahertz of millimeter-wave spectrum available in the Upper 37 GHz, 39 GHz, and 47 GHz bands. The auction had a total of $7,558,703,201 in net bids, with 28 bidders winning a total of 14,142 of 14,144, or more than 99.9%, of available licenses. “The successful conclusion of Auction 103—the largest amount of spectrum offered in an auction in US history—is one more significant step the FCC has taken toward maintaining American leadership in 5G,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

In the last quarter of every even numbered year, the Federal Communications Commission must publish a Communications Marketplace Report that, among other things, assesses the state of competition in the communications marketplace, including competition to deliver voice, video, audio, and data services among providers of telecommunications, providers of commercial mobile service, multichannel video programming distributors, broadcast stations, providers of satellite communications, Internet service providers, and other providers of communications services. In assessing the state of competiti

The Federal Communications Commission began collecting information from telecommunications carriers on the use of Huawei and ZTE equipment and services in their networks. This follows the FCC’s adoption of a rule barring the use of Universal Service funds to purchase equipment and services from companies posing a national security threat. The FCC has proposed requiring carriers receiving Universal Service funds to remove and replace existing equipment and services from such companies.

As part of implementation of the Federal Communications Commission’s plan to support mobile and fixed service in high-cost areas of Alaska (Alaska Plan), the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau proposes and seeks comment on a population distribution methodology for estimating the number of Alaskans who receive mobile service within census blocks in remote areas. The Bureau proposes to use this methodology to determine whether mobile service providers participating in the Alaska Plan have met their performance commitments through deployment in eligible census blocks.