June 25, 2025
Q2 Performance Measures Testing Must be Complete by June 30
USAC reminds carriers subject to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Performance Measures testing framework that they must complete a week of second quarter network speed and latency testing at a random sample of broadband subscriber locations supported by the Connect America Fund (CAF) by Mon., June 30, 2025, and must submit and certify the results of that testing through the USAC Performance Measures Module (PMM) by Tues., July 15, 2025.
Failure to complete a full week of speed and latency testing at the selected subscriber locations by the end of the second quarter on June 30, 2025, or to submit and certify all test data for all obligated speed tiers for the full sample of selected locations by the July 15, 2025, deadline will impact future CAF support payments. (See FCC DA 25-289)
This requirementapplies to carriers in the following funds (as well as ACS):
Carriers that did not conduct all required network performance measures testing during the second quarter because they did not have active subscribers to test for a particular Study Area Code (SAC) and speed tier combination must attest to this (and provide an explanation)Â in the PMM and may be subject to verification review that subscribers were not available.
Carriers that did not conduct network performance measures testing during the second quarter for any reason, including lack of active subscribers to test, and therefore do not have test data to submit and certify, must notify the FCC and USAC by July 15, 2025, by emailing ConnectAmerica@fcc.gov and hccerts@usac.org.
Read the full announcement here.
June 25, 2025
Q2 Performance Measures Pre-Testing Must be Complete by June 30
USAC reminds carriers participating in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) that they must complete a week of second quarter network speed and latency testing at a random sample of broadband subscriber locations supported by the Connect America Fund (CAF) by Tues., June 30, 2025, and must submit and certify the results of that testing through the USAC Performance Measures Module (PMM) by Tues., July 15, 2025, in order to comply with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Performance Measures testing framework.
RDOF carriers that fail to complete a full week of pre-testing at the selected subscriber locations by the end of the second quarter on June 30, 2025, or fail to submit and certify all test data for all obligated speed tiers for the full sample of selected locations by the July 15, 2025, deadline will face withholding of support. (See FCC DA 25-289)
Carriers that did not conduct all required network performance measures pre-testing during the second quarter because they did not have active subscribers to test for a particular Study Area Code (SAC) and speed tier combination must attest to this (and provide an explanation) in the PMM and may be subject to verification review that subscribers were not available.
RDOF carriers that did not conduct network performance measures pre-testing during the second quarter for any reason, including lack of active subscribers to test, and therefore do not have test data to submit and certify, must notify the FCC and USAC no later than July 15, 2025, by emailing ConnectAmerica@fcc.gov and hccerts@usac.org.
Read the full announcement here.
June 12, 2025
Carriers Must Submit and Certify Results from 2024 Network Testing by July 1, 2025
USAC reminds carriers that they have until Tues., July 1, 2025, to submit and certify results from network speed and latency testing conducted in 2024 at a random sample of broadband locations supported by the Connect America Fund (CAF) that have active subscribers in order to comply with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Performance Measures compliance framework . Failure to submit and certify all test results for the full sample of subscriber locations selected for testing for all four quarters of 2024 in the USAC Performance Measures Module (PMM) by the July 1, 2025, deadline may lead to a reduction in support.
This requirement applies to carriers in the following funds (as well as ACS):
Carriers in all of these funds (as well as ACS) can currently view and download compliance reports for each of the four quarters of 2024 in the PMM if they submitted and certified their test data within one week of the end of each of those quarters.
USAC provides these quarterly compliance reports to carriers to help them track their progress in meeting FCC speed and latency metrics. These reports include details at the Study Area Code (SAC) level about the percent of upload and download speed tests and latency tests conducted in each quarter that met the network performance standards established by the FCC performance measures compliance framework. The FCC mandates that at least 80 percent of network speed measurements be at 80 percent of required speeds and 95 percent of latency measurements be at or below 100 milliseconds round-trip time. Please see PMM Compliance Calculations for a detailed explanation of how the PMM calculates compliance.
USAC encourages carriers to check these compliance reports as soon as possible to find out if they are at risk of being in the compliance gap for 2024 testing either because they didn’t submit all required test data or because their speed and latency test results did not meet FCC standards.
Carriers that have not yet submitted all mandatory test data for 2024 – that is all test data for each obligated speed tier for the required subscriber location sample sizes for each of the four quarters of 2024 – should submit and certify the missing data as soon as possible to address any remaining omissions before the July 1, 2025, deadline. And carriers that are at risk of being out of compliance because their 2024 speed and latency test results did not meet FCC standards can get back into compliance by submitting passing quarterly results moving forward.
Carriers that did not conduct network performance measures testing during one or more quarters of 2024 for any reason, including lack of active subscribers to test, and therefore do not have test data to submit and certify for one or more quarters must notify the FCC and USAC no later than Tues., July 1, 2025, by emailing ConnectAmerica@fcc.gov and hccerts@usac.org. Carriers that certify their 2024 test data after the July 1, 2025, deadline will face a reduction in support that will not be restored. (See FCC DA 25-289)
Read the full announcement here.
April 30, 2025
Coming Soon: Verification Reviews to Confirm Broadband Deployment
Connect America Fund (CAF) deployment verification reviews are coming soon for carriers in funds that had 2024 broadband deployment milestones.
Now that the March 3, 2025, deadline for carriers to submit and certify their 2024 broadband deployment data in the High Cost Universal Broadband (HUBB) portal has passed, carriers participating in the following funds may be subject to verification reviews in 2025 to confirm deployment to a random sample of reported locations:
The verification review process is intended to ensure that carriers receiving CAF support are using it to deliver high-speed Internet access that meets mandated network performance standards to required location counts by relevant milestone deadlines in unserved and underserved communities eligible for funding. Carriers in these funds should be prepared to submit documentation that serves as proof of deployment for each HUBB record selected for review in the months ahead.
Read the full announcement here.
