Rural Digital Opportunity Fund

The repercussions of the Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction are still being felt as waiver requests for winning bids roll in and disputes over whether or not certain bidders were qualified in the first place rage on.

Between the American Rescue Plan Act, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, and the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), billions of federal dollars are pouring in to fuel broadband deployments. But all of these funding sources have one thing in common: they all focus heavily on fixed and fixed wireless deployments.

LTD Broadband, which was the largest winning bidder in last year’s FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction, has asked the commission to reconsider its decision involving the carrier’s application for eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC) status in California, alleging “egregious misconduct” on the part of the attorney that handled the filing. Unless reversed, the Federal Communications Commission decision will prevent LTD Broadband from obtaining RDOF funding for the state.

Louisiana passed extensive legislation in the past two sessions to help bridge the digital divide, including a plan to auction off valuable communications spectrum for broadband access. HB465 tasks the recently created Office of Broadband and Connectivity with supervising an auction of parts of the 4.9GHz band. The Federal Communications Commission voted in 2020 to allow every state to lease some of this spectrum to help expand broadband development. A state task force recommended to the Louisiana Legisla

As the federal government readies to spend tens of billions of dollars on broadband upgrades, the Federal Communications Commission — the agency that has traditionally doled out subsidies for internet connections — is on the sidelines. The broadband money got routed around the FCC for several reasons, according to insiders familiar with the process.

The Federal Communications Commission recently urged operators to ensure money awarded to them in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction wouldn’t go toward unnecessary coverage, and they responded – with a wave of waiver requests. As a result, millions in broadband funding could be left on the table. Top RDOF winners including LTD Broadband, Windstream, Frontier Communications and Starry were among those seeking to relinquish winning bids without penalty.

In July, Sens Roger Wicker (R-MS) and John Thune (R-SD) sent a letter to Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to request a status update on the Federal Communications Commission's long-form application review process for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction. On July 29, Chairwoman Rosenworcel replied.

The telecommunications industry rejoiced when the Federal Communications Commission announced it was prepared to release the first batch of funding — some $311 million — from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction. But in the same breath, the agency revealed a long list of winning bidders who have already defaulted on their obligations and hinted many more could soon follow suit.

Windstream CEO Tony Thomas revealed he’s no fan of the Federal Communications Commission's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) program implementation and he is among many now calling for USF reform. “It was a mess, why was it a mess?” said Thomas. “There’s lessons hear that we should learn.” Thomas says the auction didn’t properly vet bidders at the beginning of the process, as the FCC does with wireless spectrum auctions.

The Federal Communications Commission wants SpaceX to give up a portion of the $885.51 million in broadband funding it was awarded in a reverse auction in December 2020. SpaceX's Starlink satellite broadband division was one of the biggest winners in the FCC's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) grants announced in Ajit Pai's last full month as FCC chairman.