Rural Digital Opportunity Fund

I wanted to use my remarks to talk more broadly about the Federal Communications Commission’s efforts to connect all Americans. The FCC’s first and foremost mission is to help ensure that every American can access advanced communications. On my first full day in this job in Jan 2017, I convened a meeting of the FCC’s staff. I told them that our number one priority would be closing the digital divide and bringing the benefits of the Internet age to all Americans. And for good reason.

The Federal Communications Commission announced the start of bidding in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction, which will target up to $16 billion to deploy networks to serve up to 10.25 million Americans that currently lack access to fixed broadband service meeting the FCC’s benchmark speeds. The auction has attracted significant interest, with 386 providers qualified to bid, representing a more than 75% increase over the number that qualified for the Commission’s successful 2018  Connect America Phase II auction. 

In October 2019, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society issued Broadband for America’s Future: A Vision for the 2020s. The agenda was comprehensive, constructed upon achievements in communities and insights from experts across the nation. The report outlined the key building blocks of broadband policy—deployment, competition, community anchor institutions, and digital equity (including affordability and adoption).

The Federal Communications Commission announced that 386 applicants are qualified to bid in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction. The FCC's Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force, Office of Economics and Analytics, and Wireline Competition Bureau identified the qualified applicants and provided educational materials for participating in the auction. The number of qualified bidders represents a more than 75% increase in the number of bidders in 2018’s successful Connect America Fund Phase II auction and also includes bidding consortia that contain multiple service providers.

The Federal Communications Commission announced the final list of areas that will be eligible for bidding in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction, which will target up to $16 billion to census blocks with no fixed broadband service meeting the Commission’s minimum standards. In total, about 5.3 million unserved homes and businesses are located in areas eligible for bidding in the Phase I auction, which will begin on October 29. The auction will prioritize bids for the deployment of broadband networks providing higher speeds up to 1 Gbps and lower latency.

The nation’s largest publicly held carriers had until Sept 28 to advise the Federal Communications Commission if they elect to receive a seventh year of support in the Connect America Fund (CAF) program, and at least some of them have opted to do so. AT&T, Frontier, and CenturyLink sent letters to the FCC electing to accept the seventh year of CAF support. 

Phase I of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (Auction 904) is scheduled to commence on October 29, 2020. The Federal Communications Commission laid out its approach for determining the census blocks eligible for Phase I support and established a limited challenge process for parties to identify, in part, areas that had been awarded funding by a federal or state broadband subsidy to offer broadband service at 25/3 Mbps or better and for which funding has already been paid or a formal commitment has been executed.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai says he believes there will be enough companies to bid on broadband work in West Virginia at the end of Oct to bring new service to un-served areas. “I think these companies have a very strong interest in deploying very quickly and if we give them the money, we give them the tools, they will connect West Virginians as soon as they possibly can,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said. A FCC-sponsored reverse auction is scheduled to start Oct. 29 in connection with the agency’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF).

Ever since Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-IA) was first elected to the House in 2006, he has sought to ensure that Iowans and other rural Americans can access the internet. But Rep Loebsack, who is set to retire at the end of the 116th Congress, remains frustrated that the federal government still lacks accurate data showing where Americans can get a signal — and where they can’t. How to best go about correcting federal broadband maps is disputed.

Since my first day in this job, I’ve said that closing the digital divide was my top priority. And as this audience knows all too well, nowhere is that divide more pronounced than on Tribal lands. One new policy I’m particularly excited about is giving Tribes priority access to spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band.