USF Contribution Factor For First Quarter Of 2023: 32.6 Percent
December 9, 2022 – The FCC’s Office of Managing Director (OMD) has announced that the proposed universal service fund (USF) contribution factor for the first quarter of 2023 will be 32.6 percent.[1] If the FCC takes no action on the proposed USF contribution factor within 14 days, it will be declared approved.
For the first quarter of 2023, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) projects $8.749750 billion in total interstate and international end-user telecommunications revenues will be collected. (The 4Q 2022 total was $8.624083 billion; the 3Q 2022 total was $8.285056 billion; the 2Q 2022 total was $8.751403 billion, and the 1Q 2022 total was $9.235846 billion.)
USAC estimates that $2.130060 billion is needed to cover the total demand and expenses for all Federal universal service support mechanisms (revenue requirement) in the first quarter of 2023. (The 4Q 2022 demand was $1.914030 billion; the 3Q 2022 demand was $2.036310 billion; the 2Q 2022 demand was $1.664020 billion; and the 1Q 2022 demand was $1.84091 billion.)
Total first quarter 2023 demand includes projected program support, administrative expenses, and true-ups and adjustments, which breaks out among the USF support mechanisms as follows:
E-Rate Schools & Libraries: $697.13 million (4Q 2022 was $609.07 million)
Rural Health Care: $70.79 million (4Q 2022 was $0.11 million)
High-Cost: $1.15243 billion (4Q 2022 was $1.08506 billion)
Lifeline: $201.21 million (4Q 2022 was $211.43 million)
Connected Care: $8.50 million (4Q 2022 was $8.36 million)
The 32.6 percent contribution factor for 1Q 2023 is an increase of 3.7 from the 28.9 percent contribution factor that was used for 4Q 2022. For comparison purposes, the USF contribution factors used in 2021 and 2022 were as follows:
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[1] Proposed First Quarter 2023 Universal Service Contribution Factor, CC Docket No. 96-45, Public Notice, DA 22-1286 (Dec. 9, 2022), https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-22-1286A1.pdf.
