The Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced that the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC)’s One Portal is open for eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) to begin uploading required documentation and reporting any other substantive information for their FCC Form 481 annual reports. ETCs will not be able to certify and submit the FCC Form 481 annual reports at this time, however, because Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval of modifications to the associated information collection is still pending.
WCB has also granted a limited waiver of the annual reporting requirement deadline, which was to be July 1, 2022. WCB will announce a deadline in a future public notice after OMB approval of the Form 481 revisions, and USAC will calculate any support reductions based on the revised deadline. As a reminder, ETCs will see a reduction of at least seven days of support for late certifications. After the first seven days, USAC will continue to reduce support on a day-by-day basis, plus an additional seven days, until the required certification is complete.
