The FCC’s Office of Managing Director (OMD) has announced that the proposed universal service contribution factor for the first quarter of 2015 will be 0.168 or 16.8 percent. This is a .7 percent increase from the 16.1 percent contribution factor that was used for the fourth quarter of 2014. OMD projects that the total collected interstate and international end-user telecommunications revenues for the first quarter of 2015 will be $15.30 billion, while the projected revenue needed to fund all four universal service fund mechanisms in the first quarter of 2015 is $2.18 billion. If the FCC takes no action on the proposed contribution factor within 14 days following its announcement, the rate will be declared approved.
