Acting Chairwoman Rosenworcel's Response to Sens Wicker and Thune Regarding RDOF Auction

In July, Sens Roger Wicker (R-MS) and John Thune (R-SD) sent a letter to Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to request a status update on the Federal Communications Commission's long-form application review process for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction. On July 29, Chairwoman Rosenworcel replied.

After the winning Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) bidders were announced, they were given the opportunity to divide their bids among approved providers, allowing bidding consortia to distribute winning bids among its members. As a result, 417 providers ultimately filed “long-form” applications with the Federal Communications Commission. On July 26, the FCC released the first “ready to authorize” public notice, listing 48 companies as ready to take the next step to receive $311,669,132 to deploy gigabit service using fiber and cable in 36 states. The remaining long-form applications continue to be under review. While the FCC has engaged in this review process, it also has taken steps to address problems with the program. In response to reports that demonstrated that the auction, as originally conceived, would fund broadband in areas including parking lots, international airports, traffic medians, and dense urban centers, FCC sent letters to 197 winning bidders providing an opportunity to withdraw funding requests from places that already have service or where significant questions of waste have been raised. In addition, the FCC will not support bidders that failed to diligently pursue their applications. To this end, the FCC denied waivers requested by bidders that failed to make reasonable efforts to pursue ETC designations. I believe the Commission has been both careful and thorough in its review of long-form RDOF applications and will continue to have FCC staff update [Senate Commerce Committee] staff as our long-form process continues.