This is a reminder that payment of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) Annual Regulatory Fee is due by 11:59 PM EDT on this Thursday, September 13, 2012. All interstate telecommunications service providers (ITSPs) are assessed $0.00375 per assessable revenue dollar, based upon the revenues reported on the company’s FCC Form 499-A for 2012. Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) providers will be assessed $0.17 per telephone number/unit. Broadband Radio Service (BRS) (formerly known as multipoint distribution service (MDS) and multichannel multipoint distribution service (MMDS)), and local multipoint distribution service (LMDS) providers will be assessed $475.00 per license. Earth stations are assessed $275.00 per license/authorization and $275.00 for each Hub Station.

The FCC will not be sending out reminder notices or invoices this year, so it is important to be mindful of this required filing and payment. Providers are required to log into the FCC’s Fee Filer service with their FCC Registration Number (FRN) and password in order to determine the amount of their assessment. Payment can be made online through the Commission’s Fee Filer service, via wire transfer, or by sending a check to the FCC’s Lockbox at U.S. Bank in St. Louis, MO. The Fee Filer service may be accessed here.

Late payments carry penalty of 25 percent of the company’s assessment. Please note, there is a different de minimis standard applied to this fee than for Universal Service Fund (USF) Assessments, so a company that is de minimis for USF purposes may not be considered de minimis for this fee. Therefore, it is important that all companies confirm their filing status and amount due through the Fee Filer service.

A copy of the Public Notice may be found here.

The FCC has also put out a guide to using the Fee Filer service, which may be found here, as well as a guide to making the required payment, found here.

For further information contact Katherine Barker Marshall or any of the attorneys in our Telecom Group.