New All-Time High! USF Contribution Factor For Fourth Quarter Of 2025 – 38.1 Percent

September 15, 2025 – The FCC’s Office of Managing Director (OMD) has announced that the proposed universal service fund (USF) contribution factor for the fourth quarter of 2025 will be 38.1 percent. If the FCC takes no action on the proposed USF contribution factor within 14 days, it will be declared approved.

The 38.1 percent contribution factor for 4Q 2025 is a new all-time high. The average USF contribution factor for 2025 rounded up to the nearest tenth of one percent is 36.8 %. This is an all-time high for the average annual contribution factor. Historical information on quarterly universal service fund contribution factors is available online from the FCC.

For the fourth quarter of 2025, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) projects $7.870473 billion in total interstate and international end-user telecommunications revenues will be collected ($8.045954 billion in collections were projected for 3Q 2025, $8.223063 billion was projected for 2Q 2025, and $8.176992 billion was projected for 1Q 2025).

USAC estimates that $2.153410 billion is needed to cover the total demand and expenses for all Federal universal service support mechanisms (revenue requirement) in the fourth quarter of 2025 (the 3Q 2025 demand was estimated at $2.113790 billion, the 2Q 2025 demand was estimated at $2.186160 billion, and the 1Q 2025 demand was estimated at $2.161100 billion). Total fourth quarter 2025 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: $551.89 million (3Q 2025 was $639.18 million, 2Q 2025 was $653.04 million, and 1Q 2025 was $657.15 million)
Rural Health Care: $181.09 million (3Q 2025 was $179.03 million, 2Q 2025 was $104.10 million, and 1Q 2025 was $129.50 million)
High-Cost: $1.17676 billion (3Q 2025 was $1.05065 billion, 2Q 2025 was $1.12390 billion, and 1Q 2025 was $1.08640 billion)
Lifeline: $243.67 million (3Q 2025 was $244.93 million, 2Q 2025 was $305.12 million, and 1Q 2025 was $288.05 million)

FCC Announces Tentative Agenda For September 30th Open Meeting

September 9, 2025 – Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has announced the following tentative agenda for the FCC’s next open meeting set for Tuesday, September 30, 2025:

Accelerating Wireline Infrastructure Buildout – The Commission will consider a Notice of Inquiry that would examine whether state and local statutes, regulations, and legal requirements have an unlawful prohibitive effect on the provision of wireline telecommunications services, particularly through the imposition of excessive delays and fees that impede infrastructure deployments and disincentivize investments in them. (WC Docket No. 25-253)
Freeing Wireless Infrastructure from Unlawful Regulatory Burdens – The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that advances its Build America Agenda by seeking comment on reforms that would free towers and other wireless infrastructure from unlawful regulatory burdens imposed at the state and local level. (WT Docket No. 25-276)
Phone Jamming Solutions in Non-Federal Correctional Facilities – The Commission will consider a Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on removing regulatory barriers to deployment and viability of existing and developing technologies that combat contraband wireless device use in correctional facilities. (GN Docket No. 13-111)
Modernizing Broadcast Ownership Rules – The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would advance the Commission’s quadrennial regulatory review of its broadcast ownership rules and seek public comment on whether, given the current state of the media marketplace, it should retain, modify, or eliminate any of these rules. (MB Docket No. 22-459)
Deleting Obsolete and Duplicative Wireline Rules – The Commission will consider as part of the In re: Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding a Direct Final Rule that would move to delete nearly 400 primarily wireline-related rules and requirements that govern obsolete technology, are duplicative, and are no longer used in practice. These rules pertain to a wide variety of now-defunct topics including regulatory reporting requirements, distinctions between wireline carriers that are no longer applied, technology that has been eclipsed, and dates pertaining to pricing, universal service, pilot programs, and equipment requirements that have long ago passed. (GN Docket No. 25-133)

The FCC’s September 30, 2025 open meeting is scheduled to commence at 10:30 a.m. ET in the Commission Meeting Room of the Federal Communications Commission, 45 L Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. The meeting is open to the public, but the FCC headquarters building is not open access, and all guests must check in with and be screened by FCC security at the main entrance on L Street. All FCC open meetings are streamed live at www.fcc.gov/live.

FCC Chairman To Eliminate E-Rate Funding For Wi-Fi

September 3, 2025 – Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr has disseminated two items to his fellow FCC Commissioners that would reverse two prior FCC decisions related to E-Rate program funding. The first item is a declaratory ruling that would overturn the FCC’s 2023 School Bus Wi-Fi Declaratory Ruling that expanded the universal service E-Rate program to fund Wi-Fi on school buses. Chairman Carr’s declaratory ruling concludes that “funding Wi-Fi on school buses both exceeds the FCC’s statutory authority and does not promote sound policy choices.” The second item is an order on reconsideration that would reverse the FCC’s 2024 Wi-Fi Hotspots Order that expanded the universal service E-Rate program to fund hotspots that school kids or library patrons could use outside of a school or library. Chairman Carr’s order on reconsideration concludes that “the FCC lacked legal authority for this expansion and that the agency failed to properly justify its decision.”