Universal Service Fund

The Federal Communications Commission announced that Wavelength's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) long-form application has defaulted. Wavelength’s defaulted bids are identified here.

Deployment cost estimates underlying winning Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) bids are no longer accurate, representatives for a coalition of RDOF winners told FCC officials on July 14. The representatives suggested several possible remedies, including providing additional funding and other ideas. In a letter summarizing the meeting, the coalition cited “massive and unprecedented increases in broadband deployment construction costs . . .

The recommendations in this report focus on the Federal Communications Commission's Community Equity and Diversity Council's mission of “advancing equity in the provision of access to digital communication services and products for all people of the United States, without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, location, sex or disability.

I celebrated my thirteenth anniversary back at NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association in this role leading the best association team and the most exciting industry. I spent 20 years at NTCA after working on Capitol Hill and loved everything about the membership that the organization represented. At the time I started (in the dark ages, per my daughters), our mission was about bringing telephone service to rural Americans.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel asked her fellow Commissioners to support a proposal that would take further steps to enhance cybersecurity protections to protect school networks. Chairwoman Rosenworcel shared a plan to create a pilot program to invest in cybersecurity services for eligible K-12 schools and libraries.

On June 12, 2023, Sens Roger Wicker (R-MS), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), and JD Vance (R-OH) wrote the Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel seeking additional funding for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction winners.

During a stop in Minnesota in June 2023, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo made a promise: The $652 million earmarked for Minnesota to help build infrastructure for rural high-speed internet would be enough to finally cover every part of the state. Is that true? It depends, it turns out, on how you define a finished job. When calculating who has access to proper broadband, the federal government counts much slower internet speeds compared to Minnesota’s definition.

American Association for Public Broadband Executive Director Gigi Sohn’s hope is that the incumbents that oppose community broadband will come to realize that there are better business opportunities for them to support the concept rather than fight it. For instance, they could have bid on the project in Bountiful City (UT), rather than use shadowy tactics to try and kill it. For decades, these incumbents have argued that taxpayer dollars should not be used to compete against their private investments. In response to that, Sohn said, “I’m sorry to laugh.

There is one mapping issue that unfortunately messed up the count of eligible passings for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program grants and that is going to be a real concern. Both T-Mobile and Verizon have activated rural cell sites that can deliver home broadband using licensed spectrum that can be 100/20 Mbps or a little faster.

How can we make the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program funding go as far as possible? The answer is that state grant plans need to be laser focused on how to generate competition and keep costs as low as possible. If we can do that, we stretch the BEAD dollars as far as possible. If we don’t, we run out of money. It’s really quite easy to construct this framework. We only need two pieces of data: the number of unserved and underserved locations, and what we pay to reach them.