Rural Digital Opportunity Fund

Looking ahead, the biggest challenge facing the long-term health of the FCC’s universal service programs is the way they are funded. We are in a unique position to solve this challenge. Here’s how. Back when I was a Commissioner in 2016, I proposed that Congress should authorize a dividend from the sale of wireless spectrum that would go toward closing the digital divide. Whenever the FCC auctioned spectrum for flexible use, we would set aside 10% of the net auction proceeds for the deployment of broadband in unserved communities. I thought it was a good idea then.

Although satellite Internet technology has advanced far beyond its initial capabilities, some experts have advised that the emerging broadband solution still has limitations that local and state stakeholders should consider. Carl Russo, CEO of telecommunications company Calix, said for “very rural” places that have no access to other solutions, satellite Internet makes sense.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the necessity of broadband became incontrovertible. Attending school, working from home, visiting a doctor, and accessing government services all relied on reliable broadband connections. For many, bridging the digital divide emerged as an even-more-urgent priority. We’ve tracked the stories that best explain the complexities of the digital divide and the crucial policy responses. Here’s our list. 

To connect those most in need most often means connecting people to networks that already exist. That’s why it’s important to expose how the Federal Communications Commission’s rush to build new broadband networks has resulted in wasteful spending. Though I believe solving the rural-deployment problem is important, the roots of that problem are different from the root causes of the digital divide that plagues urban areas.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) has asked the Federal Communications Commission to reject efforts by West Virginia legislators to block Frontier Communications’ successful bid for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) funding. Frontier won $247 million to serve almost 79,000 locations in the state. It says that it will bring gigabit connectivity to many of those locations. The company is currently in bankruptcy, but expects to emerge in the first quarter of 2021.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently completed its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction. The goal of the auction was to bring to rural areas across the United States the same affordable and reliable broadband service enjoyed in many urban and suburban areas. A review of the results of the auction shows it is unlikely the FCC attained its goal—and for America’s rural communities, the ongoing uncertainty is likely to persist for some time. CTC Technology & Energy analysis of the RDOF results points to a few key takeaways for local communities:

David Sumi is vice president of marketing for Siklu, a fixed wireless equipment manufacturer that was part of a group of manufacturers that convinced the Federal Communications Commission to allow Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) fixed wireless bids for the gigabit tier. According to Sumi, there have been a lot of advances in fixed wireless recently. He described two Siklu offerings that could be used for gigabit fixed wireless deployments and noted that other manufacturers have similar offerings.

When the Federal Communications Commission announced $312 million in grants for one relatively small company to build broadband in Minnesota, it stirred controversy among those who worry the internet provider can’t deliver what it promised. Now that squabble over the company, LTD Broadband, has spilled over into Minnesota’s own grant program for development of high-sp

The preliminary results of the Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction are now public and while it is a long road from auction results to authorization of funding to actual deployment, the results have significant implications for US broadband policy.

It is Day 1,421 of the Trump Administration. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, from Day 1, has insisted that closing the digital divide is the Trump FCC's top priority. This week, the FCC announced the winners of over $9 billion worth of rural broadband subsidies -- the "single largest step ever taken to close the digital divide," according to Chairman Pai. But looking at the results may leave millions of rural residents apprehensive -- and disconnected.