On June 1, 2010, an anonymous party (“Anonymous Petitioner”) filed a petition (“Petition”) seeking the establishment of a Universal Service Fund (“USF”) safe harbor for audio-bridging providers and integrated teleconferencing service providers.  Specifically, the Petition requests that the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” or “Commission”) issue a declaratory ruling setting an appropriate USF safe harbor percentage applicable to all conference-bridge providers who offer services of a mixed jurisdictional nature.  In the alternative, the Petition asks that the Commission initiate a rulemaking proceeding to determine whether a teleconferencing safe harbor is appropriate and, if so, at what percentage.  The Anonymous Petitioner argues that because audio and conference bridge providers offer a jurisdictionally mixed service that can be administratively difficult to report, such a safe harbor would serve the public interest by facilitating compliance with USF reporting obligations while helping to mitigate some of the disparate impacts of USF assessment on different segments of the industry.

Clients who wish to review this issue in more detail can access the entire text of the Petition at the following link:

https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020500087

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the above-described Petition or the FCC‘s treatment of revenue from audio bridging services, please contact the attorney assigned to your account.  Alternatively, you may reply to this message via e-mail and someone will promptly respond to your inquiry.