The FCC’s Office of Managing Director (OMD) has announced that the proposed universal service contribution factor for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2017 will be 0.188 or 18.8 percent. This is a 1.7 point hike from the 17.1 percent contribution factor that was used for the previous quarter and surpasses last year’s high of 18.2 percent. OMD projects that the total collected interstate and international end-user telecommunications revenues for Q4 2017 will be $13 billion, while the projected revenue needed to fund all four Universal Service Fund (USF) mechanisms in Q4 2017 will be just over $2 billion. The total demand and expenses for each USF support mechanism for Q4 2017 are projected to be $477.5 million for Schools and Libraries, $107.8 million for Rural Health Care, $1.14625 billion for High-Cost , and $289.8 million for Low Income. The proposed 18.8% contribution factor will be deemed approved if the FCC takes no action within 14 days of OMD’s announcement.
