Joan Engebretson

A group of winners in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) reverse auction have asked the Federal Communications Commission for the opportunity to review certain information contained in the long-form applications of other winners whose bids have come into question. The filing from Ensuring RDOF Integrity Coalition (ERIC) notes seven bidders whose RDOF bids merit closer scrutiny including four wireless providers – LTD Broadband, Nextlink/ AMG Technology Group, Resound Networks, and Starry/ Connect Everyone. ERIC expresses concern that fixed wireless will not be able to provide the 1 Gb

Cable One has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase the 85% of Hargray Acquisition Holdings that it doesn’t already own. The deal, which implies a $2.2 billion total enterprise value for Hargray, is expected to close in the second quarter. Hargray offers gigabit-capable services to approximately 99% of its customers in 14 markets in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Cable One, which offers service in 21 states, now focuses primarily on broadband, despite the word “cable” in its name.

A panel was assembled at the Federal Communications Commission to discuss the implementation of the Emergency Broadband Benefit program. Among the panelists were non-profit organizations, service provider associations and service providers. Open items discussed included how to qualify participants for the program, how to maximize service provider competitiveness, and how to prepare for the program phase-out.

As more and more stakeholders express concern that some Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) winners will not be able to deploy rural broadband meeting the service parameters to which they committed, one stakeholder has an interesting idea for what to do about this. Perhaps an RDOF amnesty program would be appropriate, suggested Jonathan Chambers, a partner with Conexon. It’s not clear why some companies allegedly were allowed to bid gigabit fixed wireless and others weren’t.

The next big spectrum tug of war will play out in the 12 GHz band, where a broad 500 MHz of spectrum could be available for fixed or mobile use, possibly involving 5G and Wi-Fi. The Federal Communications Commission in Jan adopted a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) about possibly changing the rules for the 12 GHz band that could allow spectrum sharing and other changes. The NPRM is likely to generate a barrage of comments including diverse and, in some cases, mutually exclusive, recommendations.

Some of the winning bids in the Federal Communications Commission's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction were for unrealistically low levels of support and the net result could be that those areas do not get service, according to two of the rural electric cooperatives that bid in the auction. Midwest Energy Communications (MEC) won $37 million in the RDOF auction as part of a consortium organized by the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC).

Add Windstream CEO Tony Thomas to the list of those who have questioned whether some Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) winners will be able to deploy the networks they committed to building at the level of funding they won. Without mentioning names, he said some “new entrants” that won RDOF funding believe they can “do something the established carriers can’t do using technology and economics that simply aren’t in the marketplace.”

Charter offered some details about its $1.2 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) win. Perhaps the most interesting detail is that Charter plans to spend $5 billion in total on the RDOF rural broadband buildout, which means the company will be investing $3.8 billion of its own money on RDOF projects.

The broadband and telecom industry managed not only to meet increased demand during the pandemic but also to make progress on broader initiatives, as we note in our roundup of 2020 telecom trends.

David Sumi is vice president of marketing for Siklu, a fixed wireless equipment manufacturer that was part of a group of manufacturers that convinced the Federal Communications Commission to allow Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) fixed wireless bids for the gigabit tier. According to Sumi, there have been a lot of advances in fixed wireless recently. He described two Siklu offerings that could be used for gigabit fixed wireless deployments and noted that other manufacturers have similar offerings.