Universal Service Fund

Texas-based Nextlink Internet is hitting its stride as it turns ten, with founder and CEO Bill Baker stating it expects to ride a fiber frenzy and government funding opportunities to exponential growth over the next three years.

On March 31, the House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing called "Connecting America: Oversight of the FCC." Each of the current four Federal Communications Commissioners testified before the subcommittee, led by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and including Brendan Carr, Nathan Simington, and Geoffrey Starks. Rep.

The Lifeline National Eligibility Verifier (NV) data from Q4 2021 is now available on the Lifeline Program Data webpage. During the fourth quarter of 2021, the NV received 4,379,229 applications. Of the applications received, 49% were qualified automatically, and 7% were qualified through manual documentation review. Of the applications submitted, 1,927,028 applications were determined to be “Not Qualified” because they did not meet the program criteria and were not resolved by the applicant within 45 days. For more program data, including participation rates and disbursements, visit

CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association Gary Bolton has regularly argued that federal broadband funding should not be going to SpaceX because the satellites have a limited life, and he recently reiterated that view saying he hoped the Federal Communications Commission would not approve SpaceX’s winning bids in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction.

In response to the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau has waived certain Lifeline program rules in ten previous Orders to provide necessary relief for low-income households. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to be felt by many Americans. The importance of access to affordable communications services for low-income consumers has been underscored by the pandemic and its long-lasting impact.

The Federal Communications Commission announced that it is ready to authorize more than $313 million through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund to fund new broadband deployments in 19 states bringing service to over 130,000 locations. This is the eighth round of funding in the program, which to date has provided over $5 billion in funding for new deployments in 47 states to bring broadband to over 2.8 million locations.

Windstream announced that it has received authorizations from the Federal Communications Commission to receive a total of $523 million from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), which the carrier sees as a springboard for growing through public-private partnerships (PPPs). The funding will help Windstream extend broadband to approximately 193 thousand locations across 18 states. RDOF is an FCC program offering funding to help cover the cost of expanding broadband to the unserved, and eventually, the underserved.

It’s taken more than a year for the Federal Communications Commission to authorize all of the nearly $523 million Windstream won in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction, but it hasn’t been resting on its laurels in the interim. During the auction, Windstream won a total of $522.9 million to cover 192,567 locations across 18 states with fiber. Jeff Small, president of Windstream’s Kinetic business, said construction on about 10 percent of its build is already underway.

The Federal Communications Commission asks a series of questions about the current set of programs supported though the Universal Service Fund, particularly in light of the broadband initiatives funded through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Commenters have focused heavily on how to fund universal service programs given the problems with the current contribution mechanism and ways to modify existing support programs. We have reviewed these comments and respectfully submit reply comments.

On March 16, 2022, the vast majority of the new rules for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) – the successor program to the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) Program created by Congress in 2021 to help offset the cost of broadband subscription and broadband-capable devices for qualified low-income consumers – became effective.