Announcements Archive

December 4, 2025

Service Provider Payment System Unavailable December 13

Service providers will not be able to make payments using E-File on Saturday, December 13 from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. ET due to maintenance on the Pay.gov system. We apologize for any inconvenience.

November 19, 2025

Webinar: Avoiding Common Audit Findings

Please join USAC on Friday, December 12, 2025, from 2:00 PM ET to 3:00 PM ET to learn how to avoid common findings of High Cost beneficiary audits. Register Here

November 18, 2025

Coming in 2026: Performance Measures Testing

Starting in 2026, carriers participating in the Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model (Enhanced ACAM) program must conduct quarterly network speed and latency pre-testing at a random sample of broadband subscriber locations supported by the Connect America Fund (CAF) in order to comply with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) performance measures testing requirements. Enhanced ACAM carriers may now log into the USAC Performance Measures Module (PMM), the USAC system that supports the FCC performance measures compliance framework, to generate their random samples of subscriber locations for quarterly pre-testing beginning in the first quarter of 2026.

USAC strongly encourages Enhanced ACAM carriers to begin this process as soon as possible – starting by updating their broadband deployment data in the High Cost Universal Broadband (HUBB) portal to be as complete and accurate as possible – before then uploading their subscriber location data into the PMM and generating their random samples for pre-testing. See steps below.

Please join USAC from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. EST on Thurs., Jan. 8, 2026, for a webinar overview of the FCC performance measures testing requirements and the process for generating random samples of broadband subscriber locations for testing, as well as a walk-though of the PMM and a preview of upcoming changes to certification functionality in the system. Register here.

Read the full announcement here.

November 18, 2025

Performance Measures System Open to Generate New Random Samples

Carriers participating in the Connect America Fund Phase II Auction (CAF II Auction), Alternative Connect America Cost Model II (ACAM II) and Connect America Fund Broadband Loop Support (CAF BLS) programs must obtain new random samples of broadband subscriber locations supported by the Connect America Fund (CAF) for ongoing quarterly network speed and latency testing next year in order to comply with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) performance measures testing requirements. The USAC Performance Measures Module (PMM), the USAC system that supports the FCC performance measures compliance framework, is now ready to generate new samples for carriers in these funds.

CAF II Auction, ACAM II and CAF BLS carriers are nearing the end of their fourth full year of network performance measures testing mandated by the FCC – and are now in their eighth and final quarter of testing with their current random samples of CAF-supported broadband locations with active subscribers – and must therefore obtain new samples for quarterly testing that starts in the first quarter of 2026. The FCC requires carriers to obtain new random samples of subscriber locations after two years of network testing.

USAC strongly encourages carriers to begin this process as soon as possible – starting by updating their broadband deployment data in the High Cost Universal Broadband (HUBB) portal to be as complete and accurate as possible and then uploading their subscriber location data into the PMM and generating new samples. See steps below.

Please join USAC from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. EST on Thurs., Jan. 8, 2026, for a webinar overview of the FCC performance measures testing requirements and the process for generating new random samples of broadband subscriber locations for testing, as well as a walk-though of the PMM and a preview of upcoming changes to certification functionality in the system. Register here.

Read the full announcement here.

October 8, 2025

Carriers Must Submit and Certify Results from Q3 Network Testing by Oct. 15

USAC reminds carriers that they have until Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, to submit and certify results from network speed and latency testing conducted in the third quarter of 2025 at a random sample of broadband subscriber locations supported by the Connect America Fund (CAF) in order to comply with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Performance Measures testing framework.

Carriers that fail to submit and certify all third quarter test data for all obligated speed tiers for the full sample of subscriber locations selected for testing in the USAC Performance Measures Module (PMM) by the Oct. 15, 2025, deadline will face a reduction in support that will not be restored. (See FCC DA 25-289).

This requirement applies to carriers in the following funds (as well as ACS):

• Alternative Connect America Cost Model (Original ACAM)
• Revised Alternative Connect America Cost Model (Revised ACAM)
• Rural Broadband Experiments (RBE)
• Alaska Plan
• Alternative Connect America Cost Model II (ACAM II)
• Connect America Fund Broadband Loop Support (CAF BLS)
• Connect America Fund Phase II Auction (CAF II Auction)
• Bringing Puerto Rico Together (Uniendo a Puerto Rico) Fund and the Connect USVI Funds (PR/USVI Funds)

Carriers that did not conduct network performance measures testing during the third 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 Oct. 15, 2025, by emailing ConnectAmerica@fcc.gov and hccerts@usac.org.

Read the full announcement here.