FCC Announces $200 Million for New Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Broadband Deployments

The Federal Communications Commission is ready to authorize $199,336,695 through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund to fund new broadband deployments in 26 states and the Northern Mariana Islands, bringing service to over 230,000 locations. This is the ninth round of program funding since July 2021, when the FCC announced the first approvals for applicant bids meeting the stringent requirements that Chairwoman Rosenworcel put in place to ensure the integrity of the program, which draws on funding in the high-cost universal service program. The FCC also announced a number of defaulted bids, making the census blocks in those defaulted bids potentially eligible for other funding programs. A list of the eligible census blocks previously covered by defaulted bids is available here.