The Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) has granted a request filed by American Teleconferencing Services, Ltd. d/b/a Premiere Global Services (ATS) seeking review of a 2015 Order denying its request for a waiver of the one-year deadline for revisions to the Telecommunications Reporting Worksheet (FCC Form 499-A). ATS argued that the financial hardship it incurred because of an inadvertent administrative mistake was sufficiently large and material to require disclosure in its quarterly reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission, a factor the Bureau did not consider. Typically the Bureau will not consider arguments not previously raised; but, the Bureau found it in the public interest to provide guidance on what constitutes sufficient financial hardship. In short, telecommunications carriers providing interstate services must file FCC Form 499-A yearly reporting the prior year’s revenues. Where a filer discovers errors in the data reported, it must submit a revised FCC Form 499-A within one year of the original filing due date. ATS argued that it timely filed the Form 499-A and one revision with USAC; however, it did not discover until receipt of a true-up invoice that it had mistakenly reported its foreign-to-foreign revenue on the wrong line resulting in ATS owing additional contributions rather than receiving a refund. ATS filed a second revision but USAC rejected it as untimely. ATS contends that the Bureau’s 2015 decision conflicts with precedent, involves erroneous findings of material facts, and applies the wrong waiver standard. ATS also argues that the Bureau should have considered material facts imposing hardship on the filer rather than limiting its analysis to the value of the contribution. The Bureau agreed, reversed its decision, and directed USAC to process ATS’s revisions as timely filed, finding that ATS established financial hardship due to an inadvertent administrative mistake.
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