Starry Defaults on Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Winning Bids

The Federal Communications Commission said it was ready to authorize Starry's winning Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) bids in eight states. However, the company has told the FCC that it plans to default on all its winning bids, including those in one additional state. Starry had a winning bid totaling about $269 million. The news of the default came in an FCC public notice that also listed some other companies that had informed the FCC of plans to default on at least a portion of their winning bids. Defaulting companies are subject to a base forfeiture of $3,000 per census block group, but that amount could be adjusted upward or downward. Starry’s bid was based on using a combination of fiber and fixed wireless to deliver speeds up to 1 Gbps.