The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) has announced that there is sufficient funding available to fully meet the Universal Service Administrative Company’s (USAC) estimated demand for category one and category two requests for E-Rate supported services for funding year 2024. USAC estimates that the total demand for category one and category two services for funding year 2024 will be $3.329 billion. The Bureau previously announced that the E-Rate program inflation-based cap for funding year 2024 is $4.94 billion. Additionally, as of March 31, 2024, USAC projects that $500 million in unused funds from prior funding years is available for use in E-Rate funding year 2024. Given the current funding cap and available carry forward funding of $500 million, the Bureau has determined that there is sufficient funding to fully fund all category one and category two funding requests for funding year 2024.
The Bureau has directed USAC to: (1) fully fund eligible category one and category two requests submitted for funding year 2024; (2) use $490 million in E-Rate funds unused from prior years to offset the collection requirements needed to fully meet demand for such services; and (3) reserve the remaining amount of carry forward funds for future use.
