Challenge Frontier's RDOF Challenges

On April 10, 2020, Frontier Communications submitted a limited challenge in the above-referenced docket seeking to exclude more than 16,000 census blocks from eligibility in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (“RDOF”) Phase I auction. Appendix 1 of the Frontier Challenge lists census blocks where Frontier asserts that it “has deployed broadband service at speeds of 25/3 Mbps since Frontier’s June 2019 Form 477 and that appear on the Bureau’s preliminary list.” If successful in its entirety, an estimated 400,000 Americans would live in areas that would not be eligible this year for RDOF support of voice and broadband at speeds of 25/3 Mbps or better. The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) find it difficult to believe that Frontier was able to provide voice and 25/3 Mbps service in each of these 16,000 census blocks in just eight months, and question how this is possible, especially in light of Frontier’s operational issues and financial woes that led to its filing of a bankruptcy petition on April 14, 2020. We therefore respectfully request that the Commission exercise its authority under Section 403 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, and initiate an immediate inquiry into Frontier’s claims. Importantly, we ask that the inquiry be completed in expedited fashion so as to not delay to any extent the RDOF Phase I auction that is scheduled to begin October 22, 2020.