FCC Provides Relief for Rural Health Care Program Participants, Including Filing Deadline Extension

On March 26, 2020, the FCC released an Order taking the following actions in the Rural Health Care Program.

FCC Waives Gift Rules for RHC and E-rate

On March 18, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission released an Order waiving the gift rules in the E-rate and Rural Health Care programs.  This waiver is in effect until September 30, 2020.

2Q USF Contribution Factor will Decrease to 19.6%

On March 13, 2020, the FCC announced that the second quarter USF factor will be 19.6 percent.  This is a decrease from 21.2 percent in the first quarter of 2020.

E-rate Application Filing Window Extended

The FCC has extended the E-rate application (Form 471) filing deadline to April 29, 2020.

PIA respondents get an automatic extra 14 days to respond as well.

Note that this extension means that Forms 470 can still be filed until the end of March.

WCB Announces E-rate and RHC Inflation-based Caps


On March 12, 2020, the Wireline Competition Bureau issued a Public Notice announcing a 1.8% inflation-adjusted increase in the E-rate and Rural Health Care Programs for funding year 2020.  For E-rate, the cap is $4,226,120,519, up from $4,151,395,402 in funding year 2019.  For RHC, the cap is $604,759,306 and $152,700,000 for upfront payments and multi-year commitments under the HCF Program, an increase from $594,066,116 for funding year 2019.

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