FCC Announces Results of Connect America Fund Phase II Auction

The Federal Communications Commission has announced the results of the recently-completed Connect America Fund Phase II auction.[1] There were 103 winning bidders, receiving a total of $1.488 billion in support over a 10-year period.

Of the 974,223 locations in the 30,033 census block groups eligible for support, approximately 73 percent are covered by winning bids. Winning bidders are required to deploy broadband service to 713,176 homes and small businesses in 45 states. According to the FCC, 99.75 percent of those locations will receive service with speeds of 25/3 Mbps or higher. Winning bids for downstream speeds of at least 100 Mbps cover 53 percent of those locations.

In terms of total support, the state of Missouri was the big winner, raking in $254.7 million over ten years (95,130 locations and 11 winning bidders). California was second at $149 million for 51,682 locations (only 5 winning bidders). Coming in third is Virginia with $109 million.  Missouri will have the most connections served, at 95,130. Oklahoma is second in that category with 70,727.

Of the 220 bidders that qualified for the auction, 173 placed bids. Winning bidders include ILECs, fixed wireless providers, electric co-ops, cable operators, satellite providers, and others. A total of 33 electric co-ops were winning bidders in the auction, collectively receiving $220 million in CAF support over 10 years. Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs) were big winners in the auction. AMG Technology Investment Group LLC, which provides broadband service as NextLink, was a winning bidder in six states: Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. AMG’s total support over 10 years will amount to $281 million, in exchange for offering service to 100,581 total locations. California Internet, L.P., doing business as GeoLinks, won a total of $87.8 million in the CAF II auction – the fifth largest amount won by any company – to provide high-speed wireless broadband service to 11,845 residential locations in California and Nevada. The full list of winning bidders is available online. The FCC has also released an interactive online map showing the location of winning bids.

Winning bidders must comply with all FCC post-auction requirements in order to become authorized to receive CAF support. They must submit a post-auction application for support – FCC Form 683 – no later than October 15, 2018. Winning bidders that wish to assign some or all of their winning bids to related entities must do so by September 14, 2018.

Entities authorized to receive CAF Phase II auction support must complete construction and commercially offer service to 40 percent of the requisite number of locations in a state by the end of the third year of funding authorization. They must offer service to an additional 20 percent in subsequent years, and achieve 100 percent coverage by the end of the sixth year of support.

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[1] Connect America Fund Phase II Auction (Auction 903) Closes Winning Bidders Announced FCC Form 683 Due October 15, 2018, AU Docket No. 17-182, WC Docket No. 10-90, Public Notice, DA 18-887 (Aug. 28, 2018).