Below is an update on news about the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction. A list of the winning bidders is available here. An interactive map of the RDOF auction results is available on the Auction 904 web page. A summary of the results by state is available here.

FCC Denies LTD Broadband ETC Waiver Request; LTD Stripped Of RDOF Support In Iowa, Nebraska, & North Dakota

October 20, 2021 – The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau has released an Order partially denying a petition filed by LTD Broadband LLC seeking waiver of a Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction long-form requirement.

LTD Broadband sought waiver of the FCC’s June 7, 2021 deadline requiring each RDOF long form applicant “to demonstrate, with appropriate documentation, that it has been designated as an eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC) in each of the geographic areas for which it seeks to be authorized for [RDOF] support.” LTD Broadband requested the waiver for eight states where it won support. The Wireline Competition Bureau, in a decision issued in July 2021, denied the waiver with respect to California, Kansas, and Oklahoma. It will rule on the merits of LTD’s waiver with respect to South Dakota and Texas in a future decision.

In this Order, the Bureau has denied “LTD’s request to waive the deadline to submit documentation of its ETC designations in Iowa, Nebraska, and North Dakota.” As for its reasoning, the Bureau “note[d] that LTD did not file its ETC applications in any of these three states within the 30-day ‘good faith presumption’ window,” and concluded that LTD Broadband failed to demonstrate good cause justifying waiver of the June 7th ETC documentation deadline. As a consequence of the decision, LTD Broadband is in default of its winning bids in Iowa, Nebraska, and North Dakota. Accordingly, LTD will lose the following support amounts it was awarded from the RDOF auction:

• Iowa – $23,184,786.30 in ten-year support to serve 12,916 locations

• Nebraska – $33,228,644.00 in ten-year support to serve 28,729 locations

• North Dakota – $ 8,574,318.00 in ten-year support to serve 831 locations

Rural Digital Opportunity Fund: FCC Ready To Authorize Support For 1774 Winning Bids

October 20, 2021 – The FCC’s Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force, Wireline Competition Bureau, and Office of Economics and Analytics have announced they are ready to authorize support for 1774 Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction winning bids. A list showing each winning bid ready to be authorized, the corresponding long-form applicant, each winning bid’s total amount of 10-year support, and other details is available as Attachment A to the Public Notice.

The FCC reviewed the long-form applications associated with each winning bid, and determined they met all legal, financial, and technical requirements. To be authorized to receive the listed support amounts, however, each RDOF winning bidder must submit acceptable irrevocable stand-by letters of credit and Bankruptcy Code opinion letters for each state where they have winning bids that are ready to be authorized prior to 6:00 p.m. ET on November 3, 2021.

FCC staff are reviewing RDOF long-form applications on a rolling basis, and will announce other approvals of long-forms in future public notices.

FCC Denies NW Fiber LLC Waiver Request; Strips Company Of $7 Million In RDOF Support In Washington

October 20, 2021 – The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau has released an Order denying a petition filed by NW Fiber, LLC seeking waiver of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction long-form requirement.

NW Fiber, an ISP headquartered in Colfax, Washington, participated in the RDOF auction as part of a two-entity consortium with St. John Telephone, Inc., a rural local exchange carrier that provides services in and around St. John, Washington. The consortium was the winning bidder in 14 census block groups in Washington, all of which were subsequently assigned to NW Fiber. Specifically, the company was awarded $7,116,876.00 in ten-year support to serve 1,057 locations. However, as explained in its waiver petition, NW Fiber was unaware of the RDOF auction’s long-form requirement because it “had relied upon St. John for the consortium’s FCC filings and compliance.” NW Fiber learned of the January 29, 2021 long-form filing deadline on February 8, 2021, after the FCC contacted St. John to inquire about the missing long-form. NW Fiber then requested a waiver of the deadline with respect to 14 census block groups in Washington where it won support.

The Bureau has denied NW Fiber’s waiver request, concluding NW Fiber “has not established special circumstances to warrant a waiver of the January 29 deadline.” To explain its decision, the Bureau explained that “[i]t is well established that a lack of familiarity with or ignorance of the Commission’s rules and procedures does not constitute special circumstances that justify granting a waiver.” Also, the Bureau noted that even after NW Fiber filed its waiver petition, the company “has continued to miss required deadlines and failed to complete the requirements of the program established by the Commission.” To drive the point home, the Bureau then said it doubted NW Fiber’s ability to follow through on the RDOF program’s obligations:

Given the company’s continued failure to meet the Auction 904 long-form requirements and deadlines, we have significant concerns about its ability to fulfill the ongoing deployment and reporting requirements that all Auction 904 support recipients must satisfy.

The Bureau will release a public notice in the near future finding NW Fiber in default on its bids in Washington.

Rural Digital Opportunity Fund: FCC Ready To Authorize Support For 484 Winning Bids

October 7, 2021 – The FCC’s Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force, Wireline Competition Bureau, and Office of Economics and Analytics have announced they are ready to authorize support for 484 Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction winning bids. A list showing each winning bid ready to be authorized, the corresponding long-form applicant, each winning bid’s total amount of 10-year support, and other details is available as Attachment A to the Public Notice. However, the support amounts listed in Attachment A are subject to change.

According to the FCC’s News Release, “[i]n this funding wave, 42 broadband providers will bring fiber-to-the-home gigabit broadband to approximately 65,000 locations in 21 states over the next 10 years.”

The FCC reviewed the long-form applications associated with each winning bid, and determined they met all legal, financial, and technical requirements. To be authorized to receive the listed support amounts, however, each RDOF winning bidder must submit acceptable irrevocable stand-by letters of credit and Bankruptcy Code opinion letters for each state where they have winning bids that are ready to be authorized prior to 6:00 p.m. ET on October 22, 2021. FCC staff are reviewing long-form applications on a rolling basis, and will announce other approvals of long-forms in future public notices.

Rural Digital Opportunity Fund: 85 Winning Bidders Reject RDOF Support In 5,089 Census Blocks

October 7, 2021 – The FCC’s Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force, Wireline Competition Bureau, and Office of Economics and Analytics have released a preliminary list of areas where Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction winning bidders have notified the FCC that they do not intend to pursue RDOF support.

In July 2021, the FCC sent letters notifying 197 RDOF winning bidders that some census blocks where they won support are already served or raise concerns about wasteful spending. Specifically, these problematic census blocks are “already served by one or more service providers that offer 25/3 Mbps broadband service or otherwise raise significant concerns about wasteful spending” because they contain parking lots, international airports, or otherwise do not contain residential or business locations. Each letter contained a list of the specific census blocks for each RDOF winner. In the letter, the FCC directed the RDOF winner “to conduct due diligence” by assessing whether existing broadband service in the identified census blocks will affect their ability to meet RDOF requirements and deployment milestones.

According to the FCC, “85 winning bidders have chosen not to pursue buildout in 5,089 census
blocks in response to letters the FCC sent asking applicants to review their bids in areas where
there was evidence of existing service or questions of potential waste.” The preliminary list of the identified areas where letter recipients indicated they will no longer pursue funding is available on the FCC’s RDOF – Auction 904 website under the “Results” tab.

RDOF Support Authorized For 466 Winning Bids

September 15, 2021 – The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau has announced it has authorized Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) support for 466 winning bids. The authorizations were granted after the Bureau reviewed long-form application information for each authorized winning bidder, including letters of credit and Bankruptcy Code opinion letters, and concluded the submissions were acceptable. A list of the authorized winning bids is available as Attachment A to the Bureau’s Public Notice. Consequently, the Bureau has directed and authorized the Universal Service Administrative Company to obligate and disburse Universal Service Fund support to each winning bidder. Support will be disbursed in 120 monthly payments, beginning at the end of September 2021.