FCC Bureau Denies ATS Review/Waiver on Timeliness of USF Form Filing
The FCC Wireline Bureau denied American Teleconferencing Services' request for review of a Universal Service Administrative Co. decision and a waiver. "USAC acted properly when it rejected ATS’ late-filed second revised 2012 FCC Form 499-A," said an order released Tuesday.…
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"ATS has failed to demonstrate that good cause exists to justify waiver of the revision filing deadline for its second revised 2012 Form 499-A." Industry contributors to USF mechanisms are required to file Form 499-A by April 1 each year reporting their prior year's revenue, among other things. Parties that make mistakes in their forms have until March 31 of the subsequent year to file a revision, but ATS didn't realize a mistake in a revision to its 2012 filing until past the deadline in 2013, filing a second revision in August 2013 that was rejected by USAC. The bureau said it found that the ATS claim of financial hardship didn't warrant waiver of the deadline because it "does not rise to the order of magnitude" that petitioners in precedent cited by ATS would have faced without a waiver.