Each month, Kelley Drye’s Communications Group offers this reminder of upcoming filing deadlines that may affect our clients and friends.
I. Featured Upcoming Compliance Deadlines
II. Filing Deadlines in Select Rulemakings, Inquiries, and Other Proceedings
III. Select Ongoing Filing Requirements
I. FEATURED UPCOMING COMPLIANCE DEADLINES (in chronological order)
A. The Seventh Broadband Data Collection (“BDC”) Report
(due September 2, 2025)
The successor to the Form 477 Local Competition and Broadband Report, the BDC Report collects broadband availability and other data on a semi-annual basis. The next report is due September 2, 2025, and collects data current as of June 30, 2025. Specifically, facilities-based broadband service providers submit data into the BDC system specifying where they made mass-market broadband Internet access service available on June 30, 2025. Along with providers of fixed and mobile voice services, they must also submit their June 30, 2025, subscription data (as required under Form 477) into the BDC system. The BDC filing is due on September 2, 2025, because the usual deadline, September 1 of each year, falls on the Labor Day holiday.
The FCC announced details for the upcoming BDC report deadline in a June 30, 2025, Public Notice. The Public Notice also announced that the June 2025 update of the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric (Fabric) is being made available to existing Fabric licensees. Extensive related information is available at the Broadband Data Collection Help Center.
Mandatory BDC Filers are as follows:
(1) Facilities-based providers of fixed and/or mobile broadband internet access (i.e., faster than 200 kbps, in at least one direction) with end-user connections in service as of June 30, 2025;
(2) Providers of fixed voice services, including incumbent local exchange carriers and competitive local exchange carriers (whether providing wired or fixed wireless local exchange service) with end-user connections in service as of June 30, 2025;
(3) interconnected VoIP service providers with end-user connections in service as of June 30, 2025; and
(4) facilities-based providers of mobile voice service with end-user connections in service as of June 30, 2025.
B. Revisions to August 1, 2025, Form 499-Q Quarterly Telecommunications Reporting Worksheet (due September 15, 2025)
Carriers and providers of interstate and international telecommunications that seek to revise their August 1, 2025, Form 499-Q filing must do so within 45 days of the Form 499-Q filing deadline, i.e., by September 15, 2025.
As a reminder, Form 499-Q filers are required to submit the form electronically through USAC’s E-File system, available at https://www.usac.org/service-providers/.
C. Annual FCC Regulatory Fees (Deadline To Be Announced)
The FCC collects annual regulatory fees from most federal licensees and other regulated entities to offset costs associated with the FCC’s enforcement, public service, policy, and rulemaking activities. Fees vary by type of licensee or operating entity and are to be collected no later than September 30th, the end of the FCC’s fiscal year but they are typically subject to an earlier deadline by order of the FCC. Entities that have a regulatory fee payment obligation should watch for the FCC announcement.
The deadline for this year’s regulatory fee payments has not been announced; however, the FCC typically releases a public notice by early September advising licensees and regulated entities of the regulatory fee payment due date. In recent years, this deadline has been set in the last ten days of September. The FCC will not issue bills for the regulatory fees, and it is the licensee’s responsibility to pay the fees owed (regardless of the amount posted in the CORES system). All licensees and regulatees must utilize CORES for payment of fees.
Failure to meet the regulatory fee payment deadline (once established) will result in the assessment of late payment penalties, set by statute at 25%. The FCC does not ordinarily waive late payment penalties.
We intend to circulate a special alert when the public notice announcing the window for payment of regulatory fees is released.
D. Quarterly Section 1.767(l) Submarine Cable Licensee Reports
(due September 29, 2025)
Submarine cable licensees that (i) are, or are affiliated with, carriers with market power in any of the submarine cable licensee’s WTO Member destination countries; and (ii) have sought streamlined processing of a cable landing license, pursuant to section 1.767 of the Commission’s rules are required to file a provisioning and maintenance report and a circuit status report within 90 days from the end of the preceding calendar quarter.
E. Quarterly Sec. 63.10(c) Dominant International Carrier Reports
(due September 29, 2025)
International telecommunications service providers that are classified as dominant are required to submit (i) a quarterly international traffic and revenue report and (ii) a quarterly provisioning and maintenance report. These reports are due within 90 days from the end of the preceding calendar quarter.
Facilities-based international telecommunications service providers that are classified as dominant also are required to file a quarterly circuit status report. This report is due within 90 days from the end of the preceding calendar quarter.
II. FILING DEADLINES IN SELECT
RULEMAKINGS, INQUIRIES, AND OTHER PROCEEDINGS:
A. RULEMAKINGS and INQUIRIES
Operations in the 3.45 and 3.7 GHz Bands – Waiver Request. On July 17, 2025, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology released a Public Notice in WT Dkt. No. 25-234 seeking comment on the request of Airspan Networks, Inc. for a waiver of FCC Rule 27.53(n) to “allow Airspan to market multiband base station radios that utilize an amplifier that can transmit: (1) exclusively on the 3700 MHz portion of C band spectrum, (2) exclusively on the 3450 MHz portion of the band or, (3) with carrier aggregation, simultaneously on both the 3700 and 3450 MHz bands.” Comments are due on August 18, 2025, with reply comments due on September 2, 2025.
Foreign Adversary Ownership of FCC Licenses. On May 27, 2025, the FCC released an NPRM in GN Dkt. No. 25-166 addressing concerns regarding ownership interests in a broad array of FCC authorization holders held by individuals or entities that are “owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign adversary.” The NPRM seeks comment on proposals to require both initial and ongoing certifications and disclosures from broad categories of license and authorization holders. Potentially affected license and authorization holders include, without limitation, wireless license-holders and lessees, entities holding section 310(b) declaratory rulings, antenna structure registrants, frequency coordinators, satellite networks, broadcast licensees, multichannel video programming distributors, International High Frequency authorization holders, Section 325(c) permit holders, submarine cable landing licensees, domestic and international Section 214 authorization holders, Eligible Telecommunications Carriers, holders of authority for Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) direct access to numbers, FCC auction applicants, applicants for equipment certification, Data Network Identification Code holders, International Signaling Point Code holders. Recognized Operating Agencies, Internet-based Telecommunications Relay Services certification holders, and others. Following publication in the June 20, 2025, Federal Register, comments were due on July 21, 2025, with reply comments due on August 19, 2025.
Updating Telephone Access Charges Regulatory Framework. On June 11, 2025, the Wireline Competition Bureau issued a Public Notice in WC Dkt. No. 20-71, requesting comments to update the record associated with its 2020 NPRM concerning “Telephone Access Charges.” The 2020 NPRM considered whether, and to what extent, to eliminate ex ante pricing regulation and tariffing of all Telephone Access Charges and whether to prohibit carriers thereafter from separately listing Telephone Access Charges on customers’ telephone bills. Five years later, the Public Notice seeks comment regarding the implications for the FCC’s 2020 proposals of subsequent market changes, including any market consolidations, and/or subsequent changes in state regulation. Following publication in the July 7, 2025, Federal Register, comments were due on August 6, 2025, with reply comments due on August 21, 2025.
Foreign Ownership Policies Applicable to Certain Radio Station Licensees. On April 29, 2025, the FCC released an NPRM in GN Dkt. No. 25-149 addressing requirements for public interest analysis of proposed foreign investment in broadcast, common carrier, aeronautical en route, and aeronautical fixed radio station licensees under Section 310(b) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended. The NPRM seeks comment on the FCC’s proposals “to codify definitions and concepts underlying the foreign ownership rules and practice and to streamline our review processes” noting the FCC’s belief that “these proposals will assist petitioners in providing the relevant information in their initial filings, minimize the need for supplemental filings, and promote efficient and shorter processing times of Section 310(b) petitions.” Following publication in the June 23, 2025, Federal Register and a concurrent Public Notice, comments were due on July 23, 2025, with reply comments due on August 22, 2025.
4.9 GHz Band Operations – Waiver Request. On July 23, 2025, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau and the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau issued a Public Notice seeking comment on the New York City Transit Authority (“MTA”) application and request for waiver of Sections 90.1207(c) and (e)(1) of the Commission’s rules “to permit the licensing of wayside transmitters using the FBT station class at fixed locations for more than one year without obtaining a separate authorization describing the coordinates and antenna height above average terrain of each individual transmitter” and a waiver of the 4.9 GHz band freeze. The waivers are requested so that MTA “may continue deployment of its next generation private, 5G communications-based train control (“CBTC”) network to support the safety and reliability of the New York City subway system.” Comments are due on August 22, 2025, with reply comments due on September 8, 2025. Instructions for these submissions (to be filed through the Universal Licensing System) are provided in the Public Notice.
National Television Multiple Ownership Rule. On June 18, 2025, the Media Bureau released a Public Notice in MB Dkt. No 17-318, requesting comments to refresh the record in the Bureau’s National Television Multiple Ownership Rule proceeding. The Bureau seeks to update the record since the 2017 NPRM (the “National Cap NPRM”) which considered whether to “retain, modify, or eliminate” the FCC’s rules imposing the 39% national audience reach cap and/or the UHF discount. Following publication in the July 8, 2025, Federal Register, comments were due on August 4, 2025, with reply comments due on August 22, 2025.
Final Frontiers – Expanding Satellite Connectivity. On May 27, 2025, the FCC released an FNPRM and NPRM in SB Dkt. No. 25-180, GN Dkt. Nos. 22-352 and 14-177 and WT Dkt. No. 23-158. The FNPRM seeks comment on “ways to use the 12.7-13.25 GHz band (12.7 GHz band) and the 42.0-42.5 GHz band (42 GHz band) more efficiently and intensively.” The NPRM requests comment regarding the potential to open up spectrum in the 51.4-52.4 GHz band (52 GHz band) and certain “W-band” frequencies (specifically, 92.0-94.0 GHz, 94.1-100 GHz, 102.0-109.5 GHz, and 111.8-114.25 GHz), both of which the FCC describes as “large swathes of spectrum that are largely unused for non-Federal services today. . . [and] the subject of considerable interest by stakeholders for commercial satellite use.” Following publication in the June 27, 2025, Federal Register, comments were due July 28, 2025, with reply comments due on August 26, 2025.
GSO and NGSO Satellite Spectrum Sharing. On April 29, 2025, the FCC released an NPRM in SB Dkt. No. 25-157 to consider the “decades-old spectrum sharing regime” between geostationary (GSO) and non-geostationary (“NGSO”) satellite systems operating in the 10.7-12.7, 17.3-18.6, and 19.7-20.2 GHz bands. The NPRM seeks comment regarding strategies that could “ensure highly efficient and effective use of the shared spectrum, and support a more efficient and competitive market for satellite broadband and other in-demand services while uncapping the potential of satellite constellations . . .” Following publication in the June 13, 2025, Federal Register, comments were due July 28, 2025, with reply comments due on August 27, 2025.
Incarcerated People’s Communications Services (“IPCS”). On August 11, 2025, the Wireline Competition Bureau issued a Public Notice in WC Dkt. Nos. 23-62 and 12-375, seeking comment on the Public Interest Parties’ July 30, 2025, Application for Review of the Bureau’s June 30, 2025 Order “suspend[ing] the compliance deadlines for rules adopted in the 2024 Incarcerated People’s Communications Services (IPCS) Order [] until April 1, 2027, or any alternative date the Commission sets as part of further action in the IPCS proceeding.” Oppositions are due on August 29, 2025, with replies to oppositions due on September 15, 2025.
Section 706 Report to Congress. On August 8, 2025, the FCC released the Nineteenth Section 706 Report Notice of Inquiry (“NOI”), in GN Dkt. No. 25-223, seeking “objective data and other evidence reflecting the state of broadband deployment and availability” and requesting a wide range of interested parties “to bring to our attention new issues concerning the availability of advanced telecommunications capability and recommend new ways to measure deployment and evaluate availability.” The NOI also seeks input regarding possible regulatory barriers to “deployment, expansion, competition, and technological innovation” in advanced telecommunications capabilities. Comments are due on September 8, 2025, with reply comments due on September 23, 2025.
Section 253 Public Right-of-Way Access. On August 13, 2025, the Wireline Competition Bureau released a Public Notice in WC Dkt. No. 25-248, requesting comment on the August 6, 2025, BIF IV Intrepid OpCo LLC (“Intrepid”) Petition for Preemption and Declaratory Ruling Pursuant to Section 253(d) of the Communications Act. Intrepid seeks a declaratory ruling “preempting the City of Cottage Grove, Minnesota (the “City”) from denying [Intrepid] access to the public right-of-way” in connection with the City’s entry into an exclusive arrangement with another provider in violation of Section 253 of the Communications Act. Comments or oppositions to the Petition are due on September 12, 2025, with reply comments due on October 14, 2025.
NG911 Resiliency, Reliability, Interoperability, and Accessibility. On March 28, 2025, the FCC released an FNPRM in PS Dkt. Nos. 21-479 and 13-75, proposing rules “to both facilitate the NG911 transition and ensure that the transition does not inadvertently create vulnerabilities in critical public safety networks.” Following publication in the June 4, 2025, Federal Register, comments were due on August 4, 2025, with reply comments due on September 17, 2025 (extended from the original schedule for comments to be due on July 21, 2025, and reply comments due on August 18, 2025).
B. Additional PAPERWORK ACT REDUCTION (“PRA”) Comments
Uncrewed Aircraft Systems in the 5030-5091 MHz band. On August 29, 2024, the FCC released a Report and Order in WT Dkt. No. 22-323, adopting rules to facilitate uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) operators’ access to spectrum in the 5030-5091 MHz band. Included were several new rules that revise the resulting information collection (§ 88.111 (certification of transmitters); § 88.113 (FAA notification of applications for equipment certification); and § 88.115 (requirement for equipment authorization applications for certain devices to include a statement addressing compliance with radio frequency radiation exposure requirements). Following publication in the August 5, 2025, Federal Register, PRA comments on these changes are due on September 10, 2025.
III. SELECT ONGOING FILING REQUIREMENTS
Pro Forma Assignments and Transfers
Assignments of Authorization and Transfers of Control can be filed either as pro forma applications or non-pro forma applications.
A pro forma assignment or transfer is one in which the form of ownership changes but actual control of the license remains with the same entity or person. Most pro forma assignments and transfers may be approved under streamlined Forbearance procedures in the case of most telecommunications carriers (e.g., Section 214 authorization holders, wireless licensees (excluding those with installment payment or designated entity issues) and earth station licensees). Unlike non-pro forma assignments and transfers of control, where there is a substantial change in direct or indirect ownership or control, i.e., a de jure or de facto change introducing a new party or person with a controlling interest, requests regarding pro forma changes where the ultimate control and ownership remains the same do not require prior FCC approval provided that the parties notify the FCC of the change within 30 days. Note that private licenses are not subject to forbearance such that FCC advance approval generally is required for pro forma transfers and assignments of private licenses.
Additional Requirements for International Section 214 and Subsea Cable Landing License Applications for Authority or Involving Substantive Assignments, Transfers of Control, or Modifications of such Authority, and for Section 310(b) Petitions
Pursuant to an August, 2024, Public Notice, additional requirements are now in effect for all applications for international Section 214 authorizations and submarine cable landing licenses as well as any applications for assignment, transfer of control or modification, in connection with such authorizations and licenses, where applicants have direct or indirect foreign ownership above threshold levels (generally 10% or more equity or voting interests, or based upon other FCC-recognized indicia of control). The requirements also apply to petitions for declaratory ruling related to foreign ownership under section 310(b) of the Communications Act. Parties making such filings must submit responses to a set of “Standard Questions” to the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector (the “Committee”) prior to, or concurrent with, filing their application with the FCC and also must submit a copy of their FCC application to the Committee within three business days after filing. Additional information and the Standard Questions (which vary by category of applicant) are available on the Office of International Affairs (“OIA”) dedicated webpage.
Additionally, specified certifications and point of contact information must now be included in all applications involving international Section 214 authorizations or submarine cable landing licenses (regardless of ownership) as well as petitions for declaratory ruling relating to foreign ownership. Details for this required content are available at the OIA dedicated webpage.
Change in FCC Form 499 Filer Information
Filers must update their registration information, including a DC Agent for Service of Process in accordance with these instructions to the FCC Form 499-A. Filers must file updated information within one week of the contact information change. Filers wishing to update Preparer information, headquarters address, billing contact information, or DC Agent for Service of Process, can submit either an FCC Form 499-A or an FCC Form 499-Q or, for billing-related matters only, email USAC’s billing department. Filers wishing to update any other information must submit a revised FCC Form 499-A. For more information, see https://www.usac.org/service-providers/contributing-to-the-usf/making-revisions/.
Filers that cease providing telecommunications must deactivate their Filer ID with USAC by submitting a letter with termination date and information on their successor entity to USAC. Filers must also update their CORES ID information with the Commission
Filers must file within 30 days of the date that the company ceases to provide telecommunications service or telecommunications.
FCC: https://apps.fcc.gov/cores/userLogin.do
USAC: www.usac.org/service-providers/contributing-to-the-usf/manage-your-499-id
Change in Robocall Mitigation Plans
Voice service providers, gateway providers, and non-gateway intermediate providers are required under the FCC’s Caller ID Authentication rules (47 C.F.R. § 64.6300 et sec.) to implement an appropriate robocall mitigation program and remit information about that program in the FCC’s Robocall Mitigation Database (“RMD”). Providers are required to update their filings in the RMD within 10 business days of any change to the information provided, including the following:
- Certification as to the implementation of STIR/SHAKEN in the provider’s network;
- The extension(s) that apply to the provider’s implementation of the STIR/SHAKEN framework;
- The specific reasonable steps the provider has taken to avoid originating, carrying, or processing illegal robocall traffic as part of a robocall mitigation program;
- The provider’s commitment to respond to all traceback requests and law enforcement requests for information on illegal robocalling; and
- The provider’s business name, d/b/a name(s), former name(s), its legal address and contact information for one person within the company responsible for addressing robocall mitigation-related issues.
The link for remitting the required RMD filing is available here.
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