Reminder: FCC Filings Due September 2013

Kelley Drye Client Advisory

Please be reminded of the upcoming due dates for the Reports listed below:
Form 477: Local Competition and Broadband Report

The Local Competition and Broadband Report, containing data as of June 30, 2013, must be filed by September 3, 2013 by entities and their affiliates that:

  1. provide one or more facilities-based broadband (i.e., faster than 200 kbps, in at least one direction) connections to end user locations over wired ​“last mile” facilities (or the wireless equivalent) that the entity owns or equips as broadband and the end user receives broadband Internet-access service (from the entity or from any other ISP) over that connection; or
  2. are ILECs or CLECs and provide wired or fixed local exchange telephone service to one or more end user customers; or
  3. are facilities-based providers of mobile telephony services and serve one or more mobile telephony subscribers; or
  4. are interconnected voice over Internet protocol (“VoIP”) service providers, providing interconnected VoIP service to one or more subscribers in a state (including both service retailers and service wholesalers).


Filers reporting broadband information must use Year 2010 Census tract codes for this filing. The Form 477 filing is made via the FCC’s web-based filing system and can be found here.

Annual FCC Regulatory Fees

Most federal licensees and other regulated entities must pay regulatory fees to offset costs associated with the FCC’s enforcement, public service, international, policy, and rulemaking activities. Fees vary by type of activity. The FCC recently released a report and order outlining changes to the Commission’s regulatory fees for FY 2013. These changes include the following:

  • The Interstate Telephone Service Provider fee is being reduced 10% from 0.00375 to 0.00347 per revenue dollar (per the 499-A); and
  • The fees for submarine cable systems, assessed per cable landing license, increased by approximately 2%.


The Commission will likely release a public notice advising companies of the regulatory fee payment due date in late August. Regulatory fees are usually due by mid-September.

Failure to meet the payment deadline will result in late payment penalties of 25% being applied. The FCC does not waive late payment penalties.

The Commission will not issue bills for the regulatory fees and it is the licensee’s responsibility to determine the fees owed (regardless of the amount posted on the Fee Filer system). All licensees and regulatees must utilize the FCC’s Fee Filer system to coordinate paying any fees.

Fee Filer is now available for payment of 2013 regulatory fees and it can be found here.

Fact sheets detailing the types of fees, fee codes and payment methods and options can be found on the FCC’s website here.

Revised Form 499-Q Quarterly Telecommunications Reporting Worksheet

Carriers required to contribute to universal service support mechanisms must report their actual and projected end user and wholesale revenues for each calendar quarter by filing Form 499Q on a quarterly basis. Any revisions to a carrier’s August 1, 2013 Form 499-Q filing are due to USAC by September 16, 2013.

Please be advised that attorneys in Kelley Drye & Warren’s Communications practice group are experienced in addressing Federal Communications Commission regulatory fee and Form 477 reporting issues and are able to assist clients in filing the reports. They are also experienced in addressing universal service filing and carrier contribution issues and are available to assist clients with determining how to report their revenues for universal service purposes.

For further information on any of these filings, please contact your usual Kelley Drye attorney.