Universal Service Fund

GeoLinks took home $84.6 million of the $234.9 million it won in the Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction for broadband projects in Arizona and Nevada. While its top priority is ramping up those fiber and fixed wireless builds, company President Ryan Adams said it's also keeping its eyes peeled for expansion opportunities from the Southwest to the East Coast which could help it scale over the next decade.

Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will have plenty of telecommunications issues on their plate as the country heads into 2023. Tax breaks for grant funding; ReConnect reform; Pole attachment problems; and perhaps even net neutrality – again. But New Street Research’s Blair Levin said a handful of truly pressing policy issues appear poised to be decided by the states and courts. According to Levin, a recent ruling by the Supreme Court in the West Virginia v.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau and the Office of Economics and Analytics announced they are ready to authorize Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (Auction 904) support for 1,764 Auction 904 winning bids. Nearly all of the winning bids are Resound Networks, a wireless internet service provider. Bids are to serve parts of Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. The FCC also announced that Xiber, a broadband provider headquartered in Indianapolis, is forfeiting bids in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Texas. 

The authors were previously asked to analyze from an economic perspective the appropriate contribution methodology for the federal Universal Service Fund (USF). In a prior study, they analyzed the effects of modifying and expanding the “contribution base,” i.e., the supply of financial resources for the USF, to include both voice and broadband connections. In particular, the prior study investigated the economic effects of modifying and expanding the contribution base on broadband adoption rates.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB), in conjunction with the Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA), authorized Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (Auction 904) support for the winning bids by GigaBeam Networks in West Virginia, and Pear Networks in Vermont. The support will be disbursed in 120 monthly payments from the Universal Service Fund (USF), which will begin at the end of December 2022.

The Federal Communications Commission has received several petitions and requests from E-Rate stakeholders through the annual E-Rate eligible services list (ESL) proceedings, asking that the FCC permit the use of E-Rate program funds to support advanced or next-generation firewalls and services, as well as other network security services. The FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau seeks comment on these petitions as well as the related funding year 2023 ESL proceeding filings.

The Lifeline program and the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) serve a vital role in providing low-income Americans with affordable access to essential communication services. Between November 21 and December 8, 2022, the National Lifeline Association (NaLA) surveyed more than 60,000 customers who use the Lifeline and/or ACP program about who they are and how they use the programs. Survey results indicate that low-income consumers use Lifeline and/or ACP service to connect to family and to access other government programs, healthcare, jobs and online education.

With a big push nationwide to get customers enrolled in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), most broadband providers seem to have forgotten about the Federal Communications Commission's Lifeline program that can provide a monthly discount of $9.25 off a telephone or broadband bill for qualifying customers. Customers can qualify for both the ACP discount and Lifeline, meaning an ISP can collect a total subsidy of $39.25 for a qualifying customer. Any ISP that is participating in ACP in order to reach low-income households should consider the Lifeline discount as well.

The Senate Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications, Media and Broadband held a hearing examining ongoing and past efforts within the public and private sectors to bring affordable, resilient and secure broadband to all communities. Four witnesses testified during the hearing: 

In this Order, the Federal Communications Commission takes another step in its efforts to implement the Broadband Data Collection (BDC) and modernize the FCC Form 477 data program.