Instructions For Fcc Form 499-Q - Telecommunications Reporting Worksheet

incumbent and competitive local exchange carriers provide access to an interstate public network and,

therefore, provide interstate telecommunications. There are no exemptions for data or non-voice services.

Note also that entities must file this Worksheet, and are subject to universal service contribution

requirements, if they offer interstate telecommunications for a fee to the public even if only a narrow or

limited class of users could utilize the services. Included are entities that provide interstate

telecommunications to entities other than themselves for a fee on a private, contractual basis. In addition,

owners of pay telephones, sometimes referred to as "pay telephone aggregators," and interconnected VoIP

providers must file this Worksheet if they do not qualify for the de minimis exemption under the

Commission’s universal service rules.

Marketing agents (i.e., entities that market services on behalf of a telecommunications provider) are not

themselves telecommunications providers and are not required to file this Worksheet. The amounts

remitted to or retained by the marketing agent are treated as expenses of the underlying provider and may

not be deducted from underlying carrier revenues. A reseller is not a marketing agent.

The following three sections list types of telecommunications providers that are not required to file the

FCC Form 499-Q. Note that such entities are treated as end users by their underlying carriers and

therefore may be subject to pass-through charges.

Universal service exemption for de minimis telecommunications providers

Section 54.708 of the Commission’s rules states that telecommunications carriers and telecommunications

providers are not required to contribute directly to the universal service support mechanisms for a given year

if their contribution for that year is less than $10,000.

Thus, potential contributors whose contribution to the

universal service support mechanisms would be de minimis under the universal service rules are not required

to file the Worksheet (FCC Form 499-Q) or contribute directly to universal service. Telecommunications

carriers and other telecommunications providers should complete the table contained in Figure 1 to determine

whether they meet the de minimis standard. To complete Figure 1, potential filers and all affiliates must first

complete block 3 of the Worksheet and enter the amounts from Line 120(b) and 120(c) in Figure 1.

Telecommunications providers that do not file this Worksheet because they are de minimis for purposes of

universal service contributions (and need not file for any other purpose) should retain Figure 1 and

documentation of their contribution base revenues nonetheless for five years and may be required to provide

it to the FCC, the FCC’s Data Collection Agent or the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC)

upon request.

(Continued from previous page)

Reconsideration and Clarification of the InterCall Order, WC Docket No. 06-122, CC Docket No. 96-45, Order on

Reconsideration, 28 FCC Rcd 898 (2012), subsequent history omitted.

See 47 CFR § 9.3 (defining interconnected VoIP service).

47 CFR § 54.708.

See Comprehensive Review of the Universal Service Fund Management, Administration, and Oversight, WC

Docket No. 05-195, Report and Order, 22 FCC Rcd 16372, 16386-87, para. 27 (2007) (codified at 47 CFR §

54.706(e)) (USF Comprehensive Review Order).

Instructions For Fcc Form 499-Q - Telecommunications Reporting Worksheet - 2017 Page 4