Charter requests limited Rural Digital Opportunity Fund waiver after finding lots of inaccuracies

Charter Communications filed a waiver request on May 11 with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) related to its award in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction. Charter, like all RDOF auction winners, promised to bring broadband to unserved areas. But the company has been auditing the census block grants (CBGs) where it was awarded funds, and it’s found that several of these areas already have broadband or will soon be receiving it. Charter says many of these inaccuracies were not its fault, but rather they derived from incomplete broadband databases, faulty broadband maps, and from varying definitions of “unserved.” In addition, some areas have become served with broadband after the RDOF funds were awarded. Charter is seeking a limited waiver of its RDOF deployment obligations in Massachusetts and in small areas in Kentucky, Missouri, Virginia and Wisconsin.