News of the Week

The FY 2022 Form 471 Application Window opened on Wednesday, January 12, 2022, at 12:00 noon EST and will close on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

E-Rate:

Wave 40 for FY 2021 was released on Thursday, January 13th, for a total of $32.7 million.  Cumulative commitments are now $2.57 billion.  Nationwide, USAC has now funded 98% of the FY 2021 applications representing 92% of the requested funding.

ECF:

Wave 7 was released on January 10th for a total of $361 million. Cumulative ECF commitments are now $4.19 billion.  Unlike E-rate, for which funding waves are issued weekly, ECF funding waves are being released roughly once a month.  ECF invoice payments, also issued in waves, appear to be issued more frequently.  Authorized disbursements as of last Friday totaled $101 million, unchanged for the last two weeks.

Last Friday, the FCC formally adopted a Report and Order and Further Notice that provides detailed guidance for the Affordable Connectivity Program (“ACP”).  As we’ve discussed, this $14.2 billion federal program offers low-income households discounts on their internet service bills and an opportunity to receive a discount on a computer or tablet from participating providers.

Although the FCC’s adoption was announced last week, we do not expect the full Order to be released until later this week.  We expect the Order to track the draft version released two weeks ago, as discussed in our newsletter of January 10th.

Upcoming Dates:

Universal Service Monitoring Report for 2021:

The FCC has released the 2021 version of the Universal Service Monitoring Report.  The annual report summarizes the four Universal Service Fund (“USF”) programs — including E-rate — and the methods used to fund them.  The data provided on E-rate (pp. 47-50) includes the following tables:
Table 4.1   Schools and Libraries Funding Commitments and Disbursements by Applicant Type and Year for funding years 1998–2020.
Table 4.2   Schools and Libraries Funding Commitments and Disbursements from Program Inception through June 30, 2021 by State and Applicant Type.

Aside from announcing Wave 7 ECF funding, that was released on January 10th, USAC’s Emergency Connectivity Fund Program Newsletter of January 11, 2022 repeats the same information covered in the previous ECF newsletter of January 4th.