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  "description": "Would represent a 3.3 percentage point increase from Q3 2025.\n",
  "path": "/usf-contribution-factor-expected-to-hit-record-39-3-percent/",
  "publishedAt": "2025-08-11T19:07:14.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
  "tags": [
    "up from 36%",
    "_Q4 2025 fund size projections_",
    "_****There's a whole community behind your FREE membership...****_",
    "Join the Community!",
    "_by the_",
    "_four programs_",
    "_is assessed_",
    "_relatively steady_",
    "_was less than_",
    "USF quarterly contribution factor filings",
    "_receives_",
    "_been beset_",
    "_calls for reform_",
    "_Ruled unconstitutional_",
    "_was preserved_",
    "_directly funding_",
    "_expanding the base_",
    "_was relaunched_",
    "_currently seeking_",
    "not yet publicly released",
    "JSI’s analysis"
  ],
  "textContent": "WASHINGTON, August 11, 2025 – Telephone customers may see higher charges on their monthly bills this fall, as fees paid to the Universal Service Fund were projected to rise to a record-high 39.3 percent.\n\nThe increase, up from 36% in Q3, according to the Universal Service Administrative Company’s _Q4 2025 fund size projections_, would mark the largest rate in the program’s history and the seventh largest quarter-over-quarter jump in nearly 30 years.\n\nUSAC, led by CEO **Radha Sekar** , administers the $8 billion Universal Service Fund, which is financed by fees on telecommunications carriers that are typically passed directly to customers.\n\n\n\n_****There's a whole community behind your FREE membership...****_\n\n Join the Community! \n\nStood up _by the_ Telecommunications Act of 1996, USF is designed to provide universal access to telecommunications services in the United States.\n\nIt is composed of _four programs_: Lifeline, for low-income consumers, the High-Cost Program, for rural consumers, E-Rate for schools and libraries, and the Rural Health Care Program for rural hospitals.\n\nUSF is funded by telecommunications carriers, and _is assessed_ as a percentage of those carriers' end-user interstate and international voice revenues.\n\nThough USF expenditures have remained _relatively steady_, interstate voice revenue has steadily shrunk, which has resulted in steadily higher contribution limits. The contribution limit _was less than_ 6 percent in 2000, and remained under 20 percent until the end of 2018.\n\nChart of Universal Service Fund contribution factors from Q2 2000 to projected Q4 2025, based on FCC’s USF quarterly contribution factor filings, created by Cameron Marx for Broadband Breakfast.\n\nThe limit’s rate of increase has only grown in recent years. All seven of the largest quarter over quarter rate increases have occurred since 2018.\n\nThe $8 billion fund _receives_ 75 percent of its contributions from customers of the 10 largest telecommunications companies – like AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, and Charter.\n\nThe fund has _been beset_ by controversy and _calls for reform_. _Ruled unconstitutional_ by the Fifth Circuit for the U.S. Court of Appeals, the fund _was preserved_ in late June by the Supreme Court, which found that the fund’s contribution scheme was constitutional.\n\nSuggested reforms have included _directly funding_ USF through annual Congressional appropriations or _expanding the base_ of contributors to include Big Tech and social media platforms.\n\nA bicameral and bipartisan working group, led by Sens. **Ben Ray Luján** , D-N.M., and **Deb Fischer** , R-Neb. _was relaunched_ in June to examine possible reforms to USF. That group is _currently seeking_ public comment and suggestions.\n\nThe FCC has not yet publicly released the official Q4 2025 contribution factor. The 39.3% projection was based on JSI’s analysis of USAC data.",
  "title": "USF Contribution Factor Expected to Hit Record 39.3 Percent",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-11T05:47:58.728Z"
}