Release Notes 2022

This page is designed to communicate all major dataset and platform fixes, enhancements, and known issues/problems that USAC has addressed based on valuable USAC Open Data community user feedback. If you encounter any issues and problems please email us at opendata@usac.org

2022 Release Notes

Release Date – October 20, 2022

New Tool
RHC Search Posted Services Tool
Search Posted Services allows service providers to view service request information provided by individual health care providers (HCPs) and consortia applying for funding through the Rural Health Care (RHC) program.
This tool provides an improved user interface for filtering and downloading the data from the Rural Health Care Posted Services (FCC Form 461/465) Open Dataset.

Release Date – September 30, 2022

Update
Lifeline Companies Near Me
Dataset was updated to include Discounted Device and $0 with ACP fields for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). The $0 with ACP field indicates that a service provider offers one or more plans that are covered in full by the ACP discount and by choosing one of those plans your monthly cost for service is $0. The Discounted Device column indicates that a service provider offers a discounted laptop, desktop computer, or tablet. To get this discount, you must pay more than $10.
  • An asterisk (*) after the Company Name field means that this service provider offers both ACP and Lifeline.
  • The Type of Service field for Lifeline services was updated to list Lifeline services as “Home Service” and “Mobile Service”. The Type of Service field for ACP services was updated to list ACP services as “Home Internet” and “Mobile Internet”.
  • The Companies Near Me tool that displays this data was changed to:  https://cnm.universalservice.org/.

Release Date – August 5, 2022

Update
High Cost: Eligible Locations Adjustment Process Map (ELAP Map)
  • Dataset is updated to show the latest available data and to remove locations reported in Kansas, Nebraska, and Texas—states where an obligation adjustment is no longer required.

Release Date – July 11, 2022

Update
Rural Health Care Commitments and Disbursements (FCC Form 462/466/466A)
  • Dataset is updated to include the new Telecom program bandwidth fields.

Release Date – June 30, 2022

Update
High Cost: Connect America Fund Broadband Map (CAF Map)
The CAF Map Release 5.0 dataset displays the locations where carriers that receive CAF support had built out mass-market, high-speed Internet service as of December 31, 2021, as certified by carriers as of March 07, 2022 in High Cost Universal Broadband (HUBB) portal. Release 5.0 includes adding data from one additional fund – Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) – bringing the total number of funds in the dataset to eight. Release 5.0 also includes additional data collection that includes Latency, Technology, and other technology for some funds.
Please note that:
1)     RDOF locations currently in the dataset include locations first set of authorized carriers.
2)     Not all funds are required to report Latency, Technology, and Other technologies. The Funds with a Technology Type Requirement are CAF II Auction and RDOF. The Funds with a Latency Requirement include CAF II Auction, AK Plan and RDOF.

Release Date – June 30, 2022

Update
Rural Health Care Posted Services (FCC Form 461/465)
  • Added application number
  • Updated to incorporate RHC connect information starting FY23 FCC Form 461:
    - A column, displaying states where participating sites are located, was added
    - As well as 20 new columns, providing access to up to 10 RFPs and 10 supporting documentation

Release Date – May 31, 2022

Update
Rural Health Care Commitments and Disbursements (FCC Form 462/466/466A)
  • Updated to incorporate RHC Connect information

Release Date – May 26, 2022

Update
  • The ECF third application filing window data has been added to this dataset.  

Release Date – April 25, 2022

Update
This dataset has been updated so that data from ECF funding applications submitted during the third application filing window will be made available after May 13, 2022, when the window closes.

Release Date – April 11, 2022

Update
Rural Health Care Commitments and Disbursements (FCC Form 462/466/466A)
  • CCPP information was removed from the Dataset.
Rural Health Care Posted Services (FCC Form 461/465)
  • CCPP information was removed from the Dataset.

Release Date – February 9, 2022

New Tool
E-Rate FRN Status Tool FY2016+
The E-rate FRN Status Tool FY2016+ provides the latest funding request number (FRN) data including: applicant/BEN data; service provider data; FRN status; service type;  service start and end dates; FRN costs and funding amounts; FCC Form 473 - Service Provider Annual Certification (SPAC) status; applicant FCC Form 498 status, application pending reasons; FCC Form 486 status; wave date; Funding Commitment Decision Letter (FCDL) comments; last post commitment/appeal wave data;  service delivery and invoice deadlines; invoicing mode; and total disbursement amount.  Each row in the data set is for a single FRN. 

Release Date – February 8, 2022

New Tool
E-Rate FRN Invoice Deadline Tool
The E-Rate FRN Invoice Deadline Tool provides users with the ability to search, view, and download funding request number (FRN) data related to invoicing including the invoice deadline date, funds remaining for invoicing, and the invoicing mode (BEAR vs SPI). The underlying data set has FRNs for FY2016+ and is sunset off the FCC Form 471 FRN Status data set.

Release Date – February 7, 2022

New Tool
Emergency Connectivity Fund Program Data Tool
The “Emergency Connectivity Fund Program Data Tool” provides user-friendly filters to search, view, and download Emergency Connectivity Fund program data. The tool’s underlying dataset provides a single record for each funding request number (FRN) so users can see the latest funding status, commitment, and disbursement data.

Release Date – January 20, 2022

New Tool
E-Rate FCC Form 471 Download Tool
The E-Rate FCC Form 471 Download Tool provides users with the ability to search, view, and download FCC Form 471 data for Funding Year 2016+.  The tool includes filtering capability across the seven data sets for FCC Form 471 and includes original (certified) and current (committed) versions of each application.

Release Date – January 12, 2022

Update
E-Rate C2 Budget Tool Data FY2021+
  • The field ” Pending C2 Budget Amount” was updated to now include some cost allocations from denied or canceled FRNs under a pending appeal as reflected in EPC. Also, a bug was fixed where a limited number of entities still showed pending amounts from FRN line items that were deleted during review; these pending amounts are no longer shown.
  • The field “C2 Per Site Basis Difference” was removed from the Dataset.
  • The data glossary  definitions for “C2 Budget Algorithm”, “C2 Budget”, and “C2 Budget Version” were updated to reflect EPC updates for FY2022.