NEWS Federal Communications Commission 445 12 th Street, S.W. Washington, D. C. 20554 This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action. See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974). News Media Information 202 / 418-0500 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov TTY: 1-888-835-5322 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NEWS MEDIA CONTACT: December 23, 2013 Mark Wigfield, 202-418-0253 E-mail: mark.wigfield@fcc.gov FEDERAL-STATE UNIVERSAL SERVICE JOINT BOARD STAFF RELEASES MONITORING REPORT Washington, D.C. – The staff of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service has released its most recent Monitoring Report on Universal Service. This report contains information designed to monitor the impact of various universal service support mechanisms, and the methods used to finance them, based on data filed by the telephone industry with the Federal Communications Commission through October 2013. This report, with a few exceptions, reflects data filed with the FCC by the telephone industry for the year 2012 and prior years, and projections for 2013. A monitoring program was established in the mid-1980s, at the recommendation of the Separations Joint Board, to track trends related to universal service and related matters. Since then, Joint Board staff prepared Monitoring Reports at least once a year – a compendium of statistical data on industry revenues, subscribership and penetration, universal service fund contributions and payments, price indices, and network usage. The report is the only Commission document that includes information on every incumbent local telephone company in the nation. In 1998, the publication of this report was moved from the Separations Joint Board staff to the Universal Service Joint Board staff. This is the seventeenth Monitoring Report from the Universal Service Joint Board staff and the twenty-fourth overall. The report may be downloaded at http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/iatd/stats.html. The document is only available online. For additional information about this report, please contact Jay Bennett by e-mail Jay.Bennett@fcc.gov or by phone at (202) 418-0940. News and other information about the FCC is available at http://www.fcc.gov -FCC-