Over 700,000 rural homes and small businesses will gain access to high speed Internet service for the first time through the FCC’s Connect America Fund Phase II auction. Results show that more than half of those 713,176 locations will have service available with download speeds of at least 100 megabits per second.
The auction allocated $1,488 billion to be distributed over the next ten years to expand rural broadband service in unserved areas in 45 states. A total of 103 providers won support from the Connect America Fund to expand broadband in rural areas.
According to FCC Chairman Ajiit Pai, “By tapping the mechanisms of the marketplace, the Phase II auction served as the most appropriate and cost effective way to allocate funding for broadband in these unserved communities.”
The Connect America Fund is also going to provide over $9 billion over a six year period for rural broadband in areas served by large carriers. In addition, the FCC is also working to reduce the cost of broadband deployment by eliminating needless regulatory barriers and by freeing up more spectrum for wireless broadband.
In addition to the funding that will be provided by the Connect America Fund Phase II auction, the Commission is working toward the launch of a $4.54 billion Mobility Fund Phase II auction to expand 4G LTE wireless coverage throughout rural America.
Go to https://www.fcc.gov/reports-research/maps/caf2-auction903-results for a map of the winning bids.