Universal Service Fund

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau, in conjunction with the Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force and the Office of Economics and Analytics, authorizes Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (Auction 904) support for another 830 winning bids. For each of the winning bids, the FCC has reviewed the long-form application information, including the letter(s) of credit and Bankruptcy Code opinion letter(s) from the long-form applicant’s legal counsel.

Rural broadband providers breathed a sigh of relief after the Federal Communications Commission announced it would waive steep cuts to Universal Service Fund (USF) support which were set to take effect in July 2022.

Benton applauds Chairwoman Rosenworcel and this critical effort to support a continuum of connectivity for America's schoolchildren. As far back as 2016, approximately 3 percent of the schools had begun to offer Wi-Fi on school buses, and nearly 4 percent were planning to do so in the near future. The reasoning is clear: school buses can be an extension of the school and facilitate online study. The FCC should seize this opportunity to turn school buses into rolling study halls.

For more than two decades, E-Rate has provided vital support to help connect schools and libraries to high-speed, modern communications all across the country. It got its start as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Over 25 million children take the bus to school every day. In rural areas that ride can be long. It can easily be an hour to school and an hour to return home at the end of the day.

The Federal Communications Commission temporarily waives, on its own motion, the application of the budget control mechanism for rate-of-return carriers that receive high-cost universal service support from legacy mechanisms. The FCC adopts instead a full waiver of the budget constraint for the July 2022 to June 2023 tariff year.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) will put $42.45 billion into broadband buildout, to be distributed by the states. Less than a year earlier, the FCC’s high-cost Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) committed $9 billion for rural buildout and subsidies in some of the same areas. Here, I explore which RDOF areas are likely to get funded, what that means for the remaining unserved locations, and the amount of funding each state will have for each remaining unserved location.

Sens Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced the Rural Broadband Protection Act (S.4126), which would require a more thorough vetting and verification process for internet service providers seeking to participate in the Federal Communications Commission's high-cost programs.

The Federal Communications Commission is ready to authorize $199,336,695 through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund to fund new broadband deployments in 26 states and the Northern Mariana Islands, bringing service to over 230,000 locations. This is the ninth round of program funding since July 2021, when the FCC announced the first approvals for applicant bids meeting the stringent requirements that Chairwoman Rosenworcel put in place to ensure the integrity of the program, which draws on funding in the high-cost universal service program.

Fund size and administrative cost projections for the third quarter of calendar year 2022 (3Q2022). USAC projects a consolidated budget of $61.60 million for 3Q2022.

The Federal Communications Commission is proposing a forfeiture of $100,000 against LTD Broadband for repeatedly engaging in prohibited communications of its bidding and bidding strategies during the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I Auction (Auction 904), and its failure to timely report such prohibited communications. The FCC has long-standing rules that bar communications between and among auction applicants during an auction that could detract from a fair and competitive auction process.