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FCC Releases Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on 2026 Regulatory Fees

On April 28, 2026, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) seeking comment on the assessment and collection of Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2026 regulatory fees.  The FCC is required to collect $416,112,000 in regulatory fees for FY 2026, which is equal to the Commission’s FY 2026 salaries and expenses appropriation.

The NPRM seeks comment generally on the proposed regulatory fee rates set forth in the Appendices, as well as on the following proposals:

  • Fee Calculation Methodology: The FCC proposes to continue using a methodology based on Full-Time Equivalent (“FTE”) staff allocations across its core bureaus, adjusted to reflect which services and entities benefit from FCC oversight.
  • FTE Reallocations: The FCC proposes to increase the number of FTEs that are allocated to core licensing bureaus by reallocating 59 indirect FTEs as direct FTEs to core licensing bureaus (Media, Wireless, Wireline, Space, and International Affairs), reflecting more precise alignment of staff work with regulatee oversight.
  • TV Broadcaster Fees: The FCC proposes continuing the use of a population-based method for calculating regulatory fees for full-service broadcast television stations.
  • CMRS and Mobile Services Fees: The FCC recognizes that such fees have traditionally been based on assigned numbers reported in providers’ biannual Numbering Resource Utilization Forecast (“NRUF”) filings.  The FCC now seeks comment on whether using a different unit measure to apportion regulatory fees for CMRS providers would better reflect the oversight burden, such as data from the Broadband Data Collection (“BDC”).  The NPRM notes that any changes to the data used to assess regulatory fees in this instance would not be implemented until FY 2027.
  • Improving the Regulatory Fee Process: The FCC seeks additional comment on whether it should adopt new fee categories or if there are other ways to improve its regulatory fee process.

Comments are due on or before May 28, 2026.

Reply comments are due on or before June 12, 2026.

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