Today — the morning after the federal government shutdown ended — the FCC announced that it has suspended “all Commission filing deadlines that occurred during the shutdown … until further notice.” This announcement applies to the FCC Form 481, which was due to be filed with the FCC by all Lifeline service providers on October 15.
Although the FCC website now is back on-line (after being blocked during the shutdown), the Commission appears to be concerned that a deluge of electronic filings might overwhelm the capacity of its Electronic Comment Filing System (“ECFS”).
The Form 481′s October 15 due date was not extended for filings with USAC or state commisssions, which remained open during the federal shutdown.
The Commission also stated that it “will soon issue further guidance on revised filing deadlines.” We will keep you apprised of the FCC’s new filing deadline for the Form 481 when it is announced by the Commission.
