FCC Announces $554 Million From Rural Digital Opportunity Fund for Broadband in 19 States

The Federal Communications Commission announced that it is ready to authorize $554,150,641 million in its third round of funding for new broadband deployments through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). Together with two prior funding wave announcements, the FCC has now announced over $1 billion in funding to winning bidders for new deployments. In this funding wave, 11 broadband providers will bring fiber-to-the-home gigabit broadband service to over 180,000 locations in 19 states. The 19 states slated for funding are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin. Michigan and Georgia received the most funding in this wave, $188 million and $149 million, respectively.  The FCC continues close review of the applications of other winning bidders that were previously announced to ensure they meet the program’s technical, financial, and legal requirements. These efforts continue the agency’s work to clean up the program to ensure that funding goes to unserved areas that need broadband.