REGULATORY FEES FACT SHEETFederal Communications Commission 445 12th St., S.W. Washington, D.C. 20554 September 11, 2015 WHAT YOU OWE – COMMERCIAL WIRELESS SERVICES FOR FY 2015 Each year, the Commission is required to collect regulatory fees. Licensees and regulatees are assessed fees as set forth in Assessment and Collection of Regulatory Fees for Fiscal Year 2015, Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, (released September 2, 2015) (“FY 2015 Regulatory Fees, Report and Order”). The Commission also publishes industry-specific guidance in Who Owes Fees & What Is My FY 2015 Fee, which can be found on the Commission website at http://www.fcc.gov/regfees. The Commission’s automated filing and payment system (“Fee Filer”) is available for filing and viewing of FY 2015 regulatory fees. While FY 2015 regulatory fees will not become effective until the rulemaking is published in the Federal Register, regulatees at their own discretion, may submit payments at any time before the effective due date of FY 2015 regulatory fees. Regulatory fee payments must be RECEIVED 1 by the Commission no later than 11:59 PM, Eastern Daylight Time, on September 24, 2015. This Fact Sheet applies to holders of licenses in the following commercial wireless services: Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS), Broadband Radio Service (BRS) (formerly known as multipoint distribution service (MDS) and multichannel multipoint distribution service (MMDS)), and local multipoint distribution service (LMDS). CMRS licensees include: specialized mobile radio services (Part 90); public coast stations (Part 80); public mobile radio, cellular, 800 MHz air-ground radiotelephone, and offshore radio services (Part 22); and PCS broadband services (Part 24). The CMRS messaging services category includes all one-way (Parts 22 and 90), two-way paging, qualifying interconnected business radio services, 220-222 MHz land mobile systems (Part 90), PCS narrowband services (Part 24) (e.g. one-way and two-way paging), and all SMR systems authorized for operation with less than 10 MHz bandwidth (Part 90). All other private wireless regulatory fees that are not noted here are paid in advance for the full license term and are submitted along with the appropriate application fee. CMRS PROVIDERS Who Must Pay: CMRS cellular licensees, CMRS mobile service licensees, and CMRS messaging licensees. CMRS providers owe regulatory fees for each license held as of October 1, 2014, even if a license expired after October 1, 2014. In instances where a license or authorization is transferred or assigned after October 1, 2014, the fee must be paid by the party that is the licensee or holder of the authorization on the fee due date. Payment and Documentation Requirement: CMRS fees are assessed on the number of telephone numbers or subscriber counts, as stated in the table below. If the provider received a letter from the FCC regarding its CMRS 1 The Commission has instituted a mandatory electronic payment policy, which means that licensees will no longer be able to make regulatory fee payments by check, money order, or cashier’s check. Only credit card, ACH, and wire transfer payments will be accepted. Please make sure that your electronic fee payment is made and the transaction is complete by the due date of FY 2015 regulatory fees. 2cellular or mobile telephone number count based on its NRUF2 filing, and there are revisions to the subscriber count, the service provider should enter Fee Filer and make the revision. The FCC will then review the revision and determine whether to approve or disapprove the new subscriber count. If the revised figure is disapproved, the provider will be contacted by an FCC staff member for additional information. All other CMRS cellular and mobile licensees that did not receive a letter from the FCC should use the number of telephone numbers or units as of December 31, 2014. CMRS Messaging (Paging) licensees are not sent a letter from the FCC, and should therefore use the number of telephone numbers or units as of December 31, 2014 for their subscriber count. Pursuant to 47 CFR Section 1.1157(d), CMRS providers must retain the business records that were used to calculate their fee payment for a period of two (2) years from the date of regulatory fee payment. Type of Fee Regulatory Fee Payment Payment Type Code CMRS Cellular Radio (Part 22) and CMRS Mobile Services (Parts 22, 24, 27, 80 and 90) Cellular Radio and Mobile Services are to use the same Payment Type Code 1311. $0.17 per telephone number/unit 1511 CMRS Messaging Services (Parts 22, 24 and 90) $0.08 per unit 1513 BRS (FORMERLY MDS/MMDS) AND LMDS PROVIDERS Who Must Pay: BRS and LMDS providers owe regulatory fees for each license held as of October 1, 2014, even if a license expired after October 1, 2014. In instances where a license or authorization is transferred or assigned after October 1, 2014, the fee must be paid by the party that is the licensee or holder of the authorization on the date that the fee payment is due. Fee Requirement: Regulatory fees for BRS are assessed on a per license basis, whereas regulatory fees for LMDS are assessed on a per call sign basis as follows: Type of License Regulatory Fee Payment Type Code BRS (Formerly MDS/MMDS) $635 1514 LMDS $635 1585 Note: Beginning in FY 2013, the BRS/LMDS fee categories were assigned bill numbers.3 2 Numbering Resource Utilization Forecast (NRUF) report. 3 A bill is considered an account receivable in the Commission’s accounting system. Bills reflect the amount owed and have a payment due date of the last day of the regulatory fee payment window. Consequently, if a bill is not paid by the due date, it becomes delinquent and is subject to our debt collection procedures. See also 47 C.F.R. §§ 1.1161(c), 1.1164(f)(5), and 1.1910. 3MANDATORY USE OF FEE FILER The use of the online Fee Filer system for filing regulatory fees has not changed since the process was first initiated in FY 2009: licensees and regulatees must first enter the Commission’s Fee Filer system with a valid FRN and password, and follow the online prompts to review their data and submit an electronic fee payment. Use of the online Fee Filer system is mandatory, and payments in the form of checks, money orders, and cashier’s checks are no longer accepted. 4 In making a wire transfer, please fax the “Wire Transfer Instructions” from Fee Filer to the Federal Communications Commission at (202) 418-2843 at least one hour before initiating the wire transfer (but on the same business day) so as not to delay crediting their account. These Wire Transfer Instructions contain valuable information (e.g. FRN, Voucher Number, Payer Name, and the Amount of the Wire) that will help to post the payment more quickly, and avoid costly delays that could result in penalties and interest for missing the payment due date. Please note that most wire transfers initiated after 6:00 p.m. (EDT) will be credited the next business day. LIMITATIONS ON CREDIT CARD TRANSACTIONS In accordance with U.S. Treasury Announcement No. A-2014-04 (July 2014), the amount that can be charged on a credit card for transactions with federal agencies has been reduced to $24,999.99.5 Previously, the credit card limit was $49,999.99. This lower transaction amount is effective June 1, 2015. Transactions greater than $24,999.99 will be rejected. This limit applies to single payments or bundled payments of more than one bill. Multiple transactions to a single agency in one day may be aggregated and treated as a single transaction subject to the $24,999.99 limit. Customers who wish to pay an amount greater than $24,999.99 should consider available electronic alternatives such as Visa or MasterCard debit cards, ACH debits from a bank account, and wire transfers. Each of these payment options is available after filing regulatory fee information in Fee Filer. Further details will be provided regarding payment methods and procedures at the time of FY 2015 regulatory fee collection in Fact Sheets, available at https://www.fcc.gov/regfees. Regulatory fee payments that exceed the U.S. Treasury limit and are rejected by Treasury, causing a payment not to meet the required payment deadline, will be subject to interest, fees, and a 25% late payment penalty. NEW DE MINIMIS REGULATORY FEE LEVEL Regulatees whose total FY 2015 annual regulatory fee liability, including all categories of fees for which payment is due, is $500 or less are exempt from payment of FY 2015 regulatory fees. The de minimis threshold applies only to filers of annual regulatory fees (not regulatory fees paid through multi-year filings), and it is not a permanent exemption. Rather, each regulate will need to reevaluate their total fee liability each fiscal year to determine whether they meet the de minimis exemption. Regulatees are responsible for calculating their own total fee obligation to determine whether they qualify for this de minimis exemption. The Commission reserves the right to request documentation that supports a de minimis exemption claim. -FCC- 4 Payors should note that this change will mean that entities that have previously paid both regulatory fees and application fees at the same time by paper check will no longer be able to do so because regulatory fees payments by paper check will no longer be accepted. 5 Customers who owe an amount on a bill, debt, or other obligation due to the federal government are prohibited from splitting the total amount due into multiple payments. Splitting an amount owed into several payment transactions violates the credit card network and Fiscal Service rules. An amount owed that exceeds the Fiscal Service maximum dollar amount, $24,999.99, may not be split into two or more payment transactions in the same day by using one or multiple cards. Also, an amount owed that exceeds the Fiscal Service maximum dollar amount may not be split into two or more transactions over multiple days by using one or more cards.