Letter

Rep A. Donald McEachin (D-VA) led 22 of his colleagues from the House Commerce Committee in sending a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai requesting that the FCC reconsider the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Order in light of the last-minute language added to the adopted Order and released Feb 7.

Sen Josh Hawley (R-MO) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai questioning Wisper ISP, Inc.’s progress in expanding access to rural broadband internet in Missouri. In 2018, the FCC awarded Wisper ISP, Inc. $176 million to connect more than 60,000 locations in Missouri with broadband service, but little is known about the current state of the project. "The latest data from the FCC shows 45% of residents in rural parts of my state do not have access to a wired broadband service. Missouri ranked 41st in the country for its limited connectivity.

In the last few weeks of January 2020, several lawmakers from New York wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai over concerns about a recent decision to "make all of New York State ineligible for Phase I Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) awards." On Jan 30, 2020, Chairman Pai responded by stating that the draft report and order, particularly the RDOF's Phase I awards, "contained some overly broadband language on that issue.

We encourage the Federal Communications Commission to take a broad, meaningful look at broadband deployment as it relates to its use and to investigate data that demonstrate low-income neighborhoods lack fiber infrastructure. We reiterate that the FCC should reaffirm its 2019 Broadband Deployment Report conclusion that fixed and mobile broadband services are complementary, not substitutes for each other. The FCC’s Broadband Deployment Report and Form 477 data collection must also incorporate key

Public Knowledge filed comments and reply comments urging the Federal Communications Commission to increase its current broadband benchmark speed to at least 100 Mbps downstream based on evidence that American consumers already are using those speeds and many consumers are adopting even higher speeds. Since those comments were filed, more information has been released from the FCC and other third-party sources that support increasing the FCC's broadband benchmark speed from 25/3 Mbps.