Despite RDOF Rejection, Cal.net Gears Up for FWA, Fiber Builds

Cal.net, a service provider focused on offering fixed wireless access (FWA) and fiber broadband to California’s Central Valley and rural northern California, has a new CEO and new funding. And as the new CEO, Jack Barker explained, the company is gearing up for deployments again, despite being rejected for funding it tentatively won in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) program. The RDOF program was designed to cover some of the costs of making broadband available to unserved and underserved rural areas. Cal.net was one of several companies that won RDOF funding for California but were rejected because the state did not grant them eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC) status, a requirement for the program. Barker has secured private equity funding through Littlebanc that is expected to fuel the company’s future expansion plans. As Baker explained those plans, “We build as many fiber points of presence as possible and serve the last mile with whatever [technology] makes sense.”