The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau has opened its regular window to nominate members to eight seats on the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) Board of Directors, one of them representing schools eligible for E-rate discounts, and nominations are due October 20, 2026. USAC oversees how E-rate and other universal service programs are run.
USAC administers the E-rate, Rural Health Care, Lifeline, and High Cost programs on behalf of the FCC. Its Board holds a fixed twenty seats: one for the CEO, and the rest split among specific constituencies. Each constituency seat follows the same process. The group that seat represents nominates its own candidate by consensus, terms run three years on a staggered schedule so the Board does not turn over all at once, and the FCC Chairman makes the final appointment.
The eight seats open this round
- Incumbent local exchange carriers (other than Bell Operating Companies) with annual operating revenues of $40 million or less
- Interexchange carriers with annual operating revenues of $3 billion or less
- Competitive local exchange carriers
- Schools eligible to receive E-rate discounts, under section 54.501
- Rural health care providers eligible for supported services, under section 54.601
- Low-income consumers
- Tribal communities
- Interexchange carriers with annual operating revenues of more than $3 billion (currently vacant, expiring December 31, 2027)
Each term runs three years, expiring December 31, 2029, except the last seat above, which runs one year. If a group cannot agree on a nominee, or does not submit one, the FCC Chairman will select a nominee from that group instead.
How to nominate
Full filing instructions, including the required caption, mailing addresses, and where to send accompanying nominee information, are in the notice itself: DA 26-877. Nominations are due October 20, 2026.
A separate proposal to change the Board
These nominations move forward under the Board’s current structure. A separate FCC proceeding, Maximizing Efficiencies in Universal Service Administration (WC Docket No. 26-173, adopted August 6, 2026), asks whether the Board should shrink from 20 members to 13, and whether half the Board should be reserved for members with no stakeholder affiliation, chosen instead for expertise in financial management, auditing, or information technology. Comment dates in that proceeding have not been set yet.
