Last August, the FCC https://www.fcc.gov proposed the “Rural Digital Opportunity Fund”, to bring broadband services to millions of Americans living in rural areas. The FCC has proposed a budget of at least $20.4 billion over the next ten years to support up to gigabit speed broadband networks in rural America.
The agency would like to allocate this funding through a multi-round, reverse, descending clock auction that favors faster services and encourages competition. This would enable greatest possible number of Americans to be connected to the best possible networks, all at a competitive cost.
The FCC has announced that the agency will consider a “Report & Order” to adopt a two phase reverse auction framework for the establishment of the “Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.
The FCC’s Phase 1 would target areas where current data shows that the area lacks access to 25/3 Mbps broadband service. The FCC plans to allocate up to $16 billion in Phase 1 to support to target census blocks that Commission data shows are clearly unserved by 25/3 Mbps. Phase 2 with $4.4 billion would target unserved locations within areas that are only partially served as well as any areas not won in Phase 1.
An Open Commission meeting will be held on January 30, 2020 at 10:30 am at the FCC at 445 12th street SW., Washington D.C. to discuss the “Rural Digital Opportunity Fund” along with other issues. For the tentative meeting agenda go to https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachment/DOC-361784A1.pdf. The open meeting will also be streamed live at https://fcc.gov/general/live.
Go to https://fcc.gov/document/establishing-204-billion-rural-digital-opportunity-fund for more information.