Commissioner Rosenworcel Statement on Rural Digital Opportunity Fund

While the spirit of this effort is right on—we have a broadband problem—the way we go about addressing it is not right. 

1. We need maps before money and data before deployment. 
2. We fail to recognize that cost is a barrier to broadband availability. The FCC could have asked funding recipients to offer a low-cost service for consumers when they are receiving billions in support from the government. But if you comb through the text of this decision, you’ll find we took a pass. 
3. This broadband fund is backward-looking with stale service speeds and data caps. This program will set in stone data caps for some services for the next ten years. That’s bonkers.
4. Fourth: Haste makes waste. This effort has been pushed out so fast I fear we are only starting to understand what is not workable in this framework.

In the end, this is not the broadband plan we need. It is not guided by maps. It is not guided by data. It is guided by a desire to rush out the door, claim credit and pronounce our nation’s broadband problems solved.