FAQs

Carriers must complete and submit the FCC Form 481 online with USAC through the One Portal system. For questions regarding how to create an One Portal account, contact Customer Operations via email or at (844) 357-0408. For questions about filing the FCC Form 481 online through One Portal, refer to the online filing user guide.

This year, the filing deadline is July 1, 2024. The FCC Form 481 must be filed annually to continue receiving High Cost program support or to begin receiving support in the near future.

Yes, you are able to save your form and come back to it at a later time to change data already entered or to add new data. To access a form in progress, log in as usual and a list of forms in progress will display. Simply select the form you would like to continue working on.

The FCC Form 481, online user guide, filing templates, and form instructions are currently available on the High Cost Program Forms and Filing Deadlines page. Use the E-File system to file the form online.

We find that Chrome provides the best experience with our systems. Users that certify using the Firefox browser may experience problems downloading the filing, depending on the user’s configuration.

Program year means the year that funding is received. This year’s filing (due by July 1, 2024) is called Program Year 2025 because the information in the filing will be used for disbursements for 2025. The data filed is from 2023, which is the most recent full calendar year data available.

Those who are designated as Company Officers and General Contacts on the FCC Form 498 are able to view and enter data, and certify the FCC Form 481 for their associated 498 ID in E-File. Company Officers and General Contacts are able to create and manage entitlements for users in E-File. Company Officers are ultimately responsible for entitlements in E-File.

For the FCC Form 481, there are three types of users:

• 481 Officer: An officer of the company who may enter and certify data for the FCC Form 481,
• 481 Agent: An individual outside your company who has the ability to enter data but not certify the FCC Form 481, and
• 481 User: An individual within your company who has the ability to enter data but not certify the FCC Form 481.

For Company Officers or General Contacts with questions about One Portal (logging in to One Portal, password questions, establishing entitlements, and/or authorized users), please contact Customer Operations via email or at (888) 641-8722. If you are not the Company Officer or General Contact listed on your FCC Form 498, Customer Operations cannot help you with One Portal questions. Direct your questions to the Company Officer or General Contact who established you as an authorized user.

For any questions regarding the FCC Form 481, please email the High Cost program team.

The system will maintain all filings (Certified, Ready for Certification and Saved, Not Certified) for the current and previous two program years, but will maintain only certified filings for earlier years.