Sunday, May 8, 2022

FCC's RDOF program has committed over $5.2 billion to date

In its 9th round of program funding, the FCC is authorizing $199,336,695 through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) for new broadband deployments in 26 states and the Northern Mariana Islands bringing service to over 230,000 locations.  

To date, the RDOF program has committed over $5.2 billion for broadband deployment to 3 million locations in 47 states and the Northern Mariana Islands.

“We need to connect everyone, everywhere, and today’s announcement will open new opportunities to serve communities that need high-speed, reliable broadband service,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.  “We’re also working hard to make the best use of this funding to ensure that applicants meet their obligations and follow our rules.  With proper oversight, this program can advance our goal of closing the digital divide.”

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In January, Rosenworcel established the Rural Broadband Accountability Plan, a new effort to monitor and ensure compliance for universal service high-cost programs, including the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund and the Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II Auction.  The Plan established new transparency and audit and verification procedures that are publicly available so the public can track progress in these programs, such as the new deployment data in the CAF Phase II auction that is available here: https://www.usac.org/highcost/funds/caf-phase-ii-auction/

The FCC also announced a number of defaulted bids, making the census blocks in those defaulted bids potentially eligible for other funding programs.  A list of the eligible census blocks previously covered by defaulted bids is available on the Auction 904 website under the “Results” tab, https://www.fcc.gov/auction/904/round-results.

https://www.fcc.gov/auction/904/round-results

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FCC to open $1.2 billion through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund 

The FCC announced e more than $1.2 billion through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund to fund new broadband deployments in 32 states.  In the largest funding round to date, 23 broadband providers will bring broadband service to over 1 million locations.  With this sixth funding wave, the FCC has now announced over $4 billion in funding to winning bidders for new deployments. “Today’s announcement means more connectivity is coming to...

FCC announces over $1 billion in rural broadband support to 32 states

The FCC is ready to authorize $1,041,074,000 over 10yrs in its 5th round of funding for new broadband deployments through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. 69 broadband providers will bring broadband service to 518,088 locations in 32 states."This latest round of funding will open up even more opportunities to connect hundreds of thousands of Americans to high-speed, reliable broadband service,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.  “Today’s...