The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB), in conjunction with the Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force (RBATF) and the Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA), authorizes Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (Auction 904) support for more winning bids. For each of the winning bids identified, the FCC has reviewed the long-form application information, including the letter(s) of credit and Bankruptcy Code opinion letter(s) from the long-form applicant’s legal counsel. Based on the representations and certifications in the relevant longform application, the FCC authorizes and obligates support for the winning bids. [See list of winning bids]

The Federal Communications Commission proposed rules that would modify the intercarrier compensation regime to address ongoing harmful arbitrage practices that raise costs for long-distance carriers and their customers. The FCC seeks comment on proposed changes to its Access Stimulation Rules to ensure that they apply to traffic that terminates through providers of IP-enabled services (IPES Providers). In the Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the FCC proposes to require these providers to count and report their call traffic volumes to the FCC to determine compliance with the Access Stimulation Rules.

The US Department of the Treasury announced the approval of an additional group of four states under the American Rescue Plan’s Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund (CPF): Kansas, Maine, Maryland, and Minnesota:

• Kansas, approved for $83.5 million, estimates it will connect 21,300 homes and businesses by building high-speed internet service in areas where there is a demonstrated need. The Broadband Acceleration Grant Program, a competitive grant program, will contribute to bridging the digital divide by providing access to reliable high-speed internet connections. CPF dollars will help build reliable infrastructure that is affordable in the areas the program is designed to serve.
• Maine, approved for $110 million, estimates it will connect 22,500 homes and businesses by supporting the Maine Infrastructure Ready to invest in qualified locations that can be served by line extensions of existing networks or new networks. This competitive grant program is focused on serving locations that currently lack access to reliable high-speed internet access , including remote locations in Maine’s most rural counties.
• Maryland, approved for $95 million, estimates it will connect 16,667 homes and businesses by supporting the Network Infrastructure Grant Program, a competitive broadband grant program that will provide funding directly to internet service providers (ISPs) for qualifying large-scale broadband projects in areas that lack service. The program aims to close the racial and socioeconomic digital divide across the state.
• Minnesota, approved for $68.4 million, estimates it will connect 23,517 homes and businesses by using the funds for its Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant Program, a competitive grant program designed to provide financial resources for new and existing ISPs to invest in building broadband infrastructure in areas of the state that currently lack high-speed internet.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently filed a request for a six-month waiver from the Build America, Buy America Act (BABA) – more colloquially referred to as the Buy American rules. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) legislation updated the BABA rules to apply to all projects that receive federal funding for infrastructure as of November 18, 2021, the date the IIJA was published in the Federal Register. In the broadband world, this means the updated Buy American rules apply to federal grant programs administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), USDA, Economic Development Administration (EDA), and any other agency that awards a broadband infrastructure grant or loan. For broadband purposes, the USDA 6-month waiver, if awarded, would relax the rules for any ReConnect grants awarded by the agency during that time frame. If the USDA is granted this waiver, then any winners of the last round of ReConnect (which should be awarded soon) might get some breaks from the Buy American rules. But the USDA waiver makes it clear to me that folks need to be braced for Buy America to apply to the upcoming Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program grants. I’ve heard folks on industry panels predicting waivers for broadband projects, and my bet is that isn’t going to happen.

[Doug Dawson is president of CCG Consulting.]

A new site aims to tackle a problem that in a more logical universe would not exist: real-estate listings that offer only vague details about the internet service available at an abode or don’t even address that issue. Fiber Homes promises less-chancy connectivity details in house listings. The Columbia (SC)-based site works with fiber-optic broadband providers to verify the access available at a home. It highlights matching listings with a “certified” label and details about the broadband plans available, in some cases with sign-up discounts, so home shoppers shouldn’t have to check a future home’s address at multiple providers’ sites to see which one offers the fastest connection. So far, those providers—which pay Fiber Homes for the certification and the publicity unless they choose a free-listing option that doesn’t include sales tools—are on the smaller side, with the biggest ones being Allo, Ting, and Point Broadband. CEO Robert Gilbert said he expects the site to include 4 to 5 million listings by the end of 2022.