On August 29, 2018, the Commission released a Report and Order (“Report”) on the Assessment and Collection of Regulatory Fees for Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2018 (FCC 18-126, MD Docket No. 18-175). The Report adopts a schedule of regulatory fees proposed in the FY 2018 NPRM to assess and collect $322,035,000 in fees for FY 2018 (FCC 18-65). The Commission also announced in a Public Notice that the Fee Filer is open for payments. Payments must be received electronically by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on September 25, 2018.
The Report projects approximately $20.3 million from regulatees in the International Bureau, $84.7 million from Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (“WTB”) regulatees, $103.99 from Wireline Competition Bureau (“WCB”) regulatees, and $113.22 from Media Bureau regulatees. Regulatory fees are “derived by determining the full-time equivalent number of employees performing” activities (“FTEs”).
The Report states the Commission will assess direct broadcast satellite (“DBS”) operators by phasing in the new Media Bureau-based regulatory fee and will increase rates by less than one cent per subscriber per month, or ten cents per subscriber per year. The Commission will continue assessing terrestrial and satellite IBC regulatory fees on a per-circuit basis for FY 2018, but should have sufficient information from payors in September 2018 to consider a tiered rate structure for FY 2019. The Commission will also assess FY 2018 regulatory fees for broadcast television stations using the same methodology as in FY 2017, but will begin using a different fee structure for FY 2019 based on an average of the current structure and population coverage, and for 2020 going forward just based on the population covered by the station’s contour.
For more information on regulatory fees specifically for commercial wireless service providers, please see the Regulatory Fees Fact sheet or visit http://www.fcc.gov/regfees.
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