FCC's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund - News Update
RDOF News: WISPA Responds To Calls For Increased Scrutiny Of Fixed Wireless Providers’ RDOF Long-Forms
February 22, 2021 – The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) has responded to the numerous filings made by various groups raising concerns as to whether fixed wireless service is technically able to provide Gigabit broadband speeds. WISPA claims these concerns are “motivated by auction outcomes that they find unfavorable to their constituencies,” and the groups’ filings “seek untimely and unjust changes in the standards and process for staff review of [RDOF] long-form applications – changes that, if adopted, would lead to massive delays in the authorization of support for more than five million unserved rural locations that are on the wrong side of the digital divide.”
Among the filings specifically challenged by WISPA is the recent whitepaper filed by NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association titled Evaluating the Capabilities of Fixed Wireless Technology to Deliver Gigabit Performance in Rural Markets. The whitepaper notes that because there is no proven “track record with respect to fixed wireless technologies” delivering Gigabit broadband to rural areas, the FCC should “take a careful look, based upon objective engineering criteria, at whether and to what degree fixed wireless networks can deliver Gigabit level services” to rural areas “where serviceable locations can be several hundred feet to miles apart.” WISPA, in its filing, argues the concerns over fixed wireless service are procedural deficient, and attempts to rebut some of the technical arguments against fixed wireless Gigabit service. WISPA states that the FCC should conduct a rigorous review of RDOF long-form applications, in line with the process it laid out when creating and implementing the RDOF auction:
To be clear, WISPA absolutely agrees that the Commission should “validate that each provider in fact has the technical, financial, managerial, operational skills, capabilities, and resources to deliver the services that they have pledged for every American they plan to serve regardless of the technology they use.” In so doing, however, the Commission should reject calls for disruptive, time-consuming, and litigation-producing changes that most assuredly will delay decisions on who should receive support and who should not, and the deployment of critical broadband facilities to unserved communities.
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RDOF News: DISH Partially Opposes Starlink’s Petition For ETC Designation
February 22, 2021 – DISH Network Corporation has filed a partial opposition to Starlink Services, LLC’s petition for designation as an eligible telecommunications carrier to receive funding from the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) was a winning bidder in the RDOF auction, but assigned its winning RDOF bids to Starlink, its wholly-owned subsidiary which has access to all space and terrestrial assets and infrastructure needed from SpaceX to deploy and operate a satellite broadband service. DISH is opposing Starlink’s requested ETC status insofar as SpaceX proposes to use the 12.2-12.7 GHz band for Starlink broadband service. DISH claims that to the extent that Starlink’s requested ETC designation is based on the 12 GHz band, it should be denied or deferred, pending the resolution of the DBS interference concerns arising in that band from SpaceX’s proposed modification of its satellite system, and the sharing questions presented in the FCC’s recently initiated 12 GHz rulemaking. DISH is not objecting to Starlink ETC status based on access to other frequency bands.
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FCC Receives 417 Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Auction Long-Form Applications
February 18, 2021 – The FCC has announced that it has received long-form applications from 417 Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction (Auction 904) winners. RDOF auction winners were required to submit FCC Form 683, which consists of a divide winning bids portion and a long-form portion. The FCC has released details on the 417 long-forms on its Auction 904 website: applicants; census blocks; locations; support amounts by state; and where applicable, winning bidders that assigned bids to applicants or winning bidders that made pro forma name changes.
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Fiber Broadband Association & NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association Challenge SpaceX’s Ability To Meet RDOF Broadband Obligations
February 8, 2021 – In a written ex parte to the FCC, the Fiber Broadband Association and NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association have submitted an engineering analysis of SpaceX’s potential to meet its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) public interest obligations. Business consulting firm Cartesian was commissioned to conduct the analysis. The two trade associations say that SpaceX’s RDOF service obligations – the provision of voice and 100/20 Mbps broadband service with low latency to 642,925 locations in 35 States – is “no small task” because: (1) SpaceX has provided limited information publicly about its network and the performance capabilities; (2) SpaceX’s network plans and performance capabilities continue to shift; and (3) actions by the FCC in pending and future proceedings may cause SpaceX’s plans to change further. Cartesian conducted its engineering analysis of SpaceX based upon the best information publicly available. The key findings include the following:
If SpaceX Serves Only RDOF Locations, It Fails to Meet the RDOF Public Interest Requirements on a Nationwide Basis
If SpaceX Serves Only RDOF Locations, It Fails by a Substantial Degree to Meet the RDOF Public Interest Requirements in the Eastern Region, but Does Meet the Requirements in the Mountain and Midwest Regions
If SpaceX Serves Both RDOF Locations and a Reasonable Number of Non-RDOF Rural Locations, the Shortfall in the Eastern Region Increases Materially, and Congestion Occurs for Locations in the Mountain and Midwest Regions
If SpaceX Serves Both RDOF Locations and Allocates 50% of its Capacity to Non-RDOF Locations, Congestion at RDOF Locations Increases Dramatically
Because of SpaceX’s Unique Network Configuration and Operations, the FCC Will Need to Adjust and Increase its Oversight of SpaceX’s Compliance with RDOF Deployment and Network Performance Requirements
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California PUC Urges FCC To Hold RDOF Winners Accountable
February 5, 2021 – The California Public Utilities Commission has sent a letter to the FCC urging the federal agency to help states ensure Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction winning bidders deliver on their promises. In the letter, the California PUC stated that it would like to see RDOF winning bidders deploy broadband to all their awarded locations at the speeds and based on the technology they committed to during the auction. To ensure RDOF winners meet this goal, the California PUC suggests three steps the FCC should take:
Scrutinize the financial, operational, and technical capabilities of each winning bidder against the scale and scope of their plans.
Allow winning bidders whose capabilities are deemed inadequate to surrender their awards with minimal or no penalty.
Enact program reforms prior to the RDOF Phase II auction.
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FCC RDOF: SpaceX’s Starlink Services Files For ETC Designation; Says It Has 10,000 Beta Users Accessing 1,000 Satellites
February 4, 2021 – Starlink Services, LLC has filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission for designation as an Eligible Telecommunications Carrier in all census blocks in Alabama, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia in which Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) was a winning bidder in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction. In December, SpaceX assigned its winning RDOF bids to Starlink Services, its wholly-owned subsidiary which has access to all space and terrestrial assets and infrastructure needed from SpaceX to deploy and operate the Starlink service. In the petition, Starlink states its network has the demonstrated capability to meet the Above Baseline, Low-Latency broadband performance obligations in the unserved areas in each state for which it was assigned winning RDOF auction bids. Starlink confirms there are currently 1,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, and at this time, over 10,000 users in the United States and abroad are using the Starlink broadband service as part of the public beta program. Starlink also notes that it is successfully testing standalone voice service over the Starlink network.
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NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association Files Technical Guide To Help FCC Evaluate RDOF Winning Bidders’ Proposed Gigabit Fixed Wireless Networks
February 1, 2021 – In a written ex parte, NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association has filed a technical whitepaper to aid the FCC in its review of review of long-form applications submitted by Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction winners. The technical whitepaper is titled Evaluating the Capabilities of Fixed Wireless Technology to Deliver Gigabit Performance in Rural Markets, and is intended to be used as a “roadmap” to help the FCC evaluate the technical aspects RDOF winners’ fixed wireless networks. Numerous RDOF auction winners will receive funding to provide Gigabit-level broadband service to sparsely populated rural areas using fixed wireless networks. The whitepaper notes that because there is no proven “track record with respect to fixed wireless technologies” delivering Gigabit broadband to rural areas, the FCC should “take a careful look, based upon objective engineering criteria, at whether and to what degree fixed wireless networks can deliver Gigabit level services” to rural areas “where serviceable locations can be several hundred feet to miles apart.” Among other things, the whitepaper provides parameters for evaluating networks using mid-band and high-band spectrum. For example, the whitepaper sets forth the following parameters for fixed wireless networks using high-band spectrum: When considering any proposed wireless network designs based on millimeter wave (mmW) technologies for any RDOF winner to satisfy their Gigabit broadband service commitment, the FCC should verify the following:
1. All customers must be within about 500 feet of their specific serving tower/antenna.
2. All customers must have clear line‐of‐sight to that serving tower/antenna.
3. The capacity of the serving tower/antenna or sector must be adequate to accommodate the downstream and upstream capacities of all users served by that antenna or tower.
a. The RDOF 70% subscription requirement must be considered in analyzing the capacity of the service tower/antenna or sector.
b. A reasonable oversubscription ratio on the order of 4:1 or less should be applied.
4. Each antenna and/or sector must also have adequate backhaul capacity to accommodate the number of RDOF customers anticipated with a reasonable oversubscription ratio such as 4:1. In most instances this will require the towers/antennas to be served with a fiber network.
5. When considering mmW mesh networks, in addition to the preceding factors, the FCC should also evaluate the congestion that would occur between the nodes of the mesh network as well as the potential radio frequency congestion and the backhaul congestion.
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National Rural Electric Cooperative Association Questions Whether Fixed Wireless And Hybrid Fixed Wireless Networks Can Provide Gigabit Broadband Service
February 1, 2021 – The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) has sent a letter to the FCC to express concern over Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction support awarded to provide Gigabit broadband service using fixed wireless and hybrid fixed wireless technology. NRECA, a national trade association representing nearly 900 local electric cooperatives, says there is no “meaningful industry consensus or a proven track record that fixed wireless technologies can deliver Gigabit tier service in sparsely populated rural areas.” In light of this, NRECA has called on the FCC “to undertake a comprehensive review of the detailed business plans and technical showings in the long-form applications submitted by winning [RDOF] bidders proposing Gigabit tier fixed wireless and hybrid fixed wireless solutions.” NRECA, along with NRTC, also submitted a white paper to the FCC titled The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund: Rural America’s Broadband Hopes at Risk, which recommends ways to scrutinize winning RDOF bidders’ long-form applications.
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NARUC Draft Resolution Urges FCC To Scrutinize RDOF Auction Winners
January 30, 2021 – The National Association Of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) is set to vote on a draft resolution at its 2021 Winter Policy Summit to held February 4, 5, and 8-11, concerning the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Auction. Specifically, the resolution urges the FCC to closely examine the long-form applications of RDOF auction winners. The full draft solution follows:
Whereas the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has completed its Phase I Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (“RDOF”) auction;
Whereas the FCC has awarded up to $9.2 billion to help deploy broadband to areas in all 56 States and US territories; Whereas the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (“NARUC”) supports the FCC’s efforts to deploy broadband services in their territories;
Whereas NARUC has an interest in ensuring the appropriate and responsible expenditure of Universal Service Fund (“USF”) funds;
Whereas on January 19, 2021, a bipartisan group of Congress sent a letter to then Chairman Pai urging “[a]s responsible stewards of USF funds, we ask the FCC to redouble its efforts to review the long-form applications that will now be submitted.”;
Whereas the FCC will now commence review of RDOF winning bidder’s long-form applications;
Whereas the States as participants in the Eligible Telecommunications Carrier (“ETC”) process are committed to the FCC’s goals of encouraging deployment and responsible stewardship of USF funds; now therefore be it;
Resolved that the Board of Directors of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, convened at its 2021 Winter Policy Summit, urges the FCC to closely scrutinize the long-form applications of RDOF support winners to ensure that each provider does in fact have the technical, financial, managerial, operational skills, capabilities, and resources to deliver the services they have pledged for every American they plan to serve regardless of the technology they use; and be it be further;
Resolved that NARUC encourages the FCC to seek and incorporate opportunities for input into its RDOF long-form review so as to ensure the success of the program and to minimize the possibility of waste fraud or abuse of USF funds.
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Free Press Criticizes Results Of The FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Auction, Calls On FCC To Make Auction Application Information Available
January 20, 2021 – Public interest group Free Press met with the office of FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks to discuss the “waste and abuse” it found in the results of the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction (Auction 904). In its ex parte, Free press identified four general categories of concern discovered in its investigation of RDOF auction results:
(1) $709 million of the $9.2 billion awarded in what is ostensibly a “rural” subsidy program went to providers for Census block groups (“CBGs”) containing urban Census blocks;
(2) review of top U.S. urban areas where bidders won RDOF awards found numerous examples of RDOF awards for densely-populated urban blocks that are decidedly not high-cost areas in need of RDOF (or any) support for deployment, yet where incumbents sometimes provide service across the street from blocks for which they won RDOF support;
(3) review found examples of winning bids in empty blocks (i.e., those with no apparent serviceable locations) in both urban and rural areas; and
(4) review also uncovered several instances where RDOF subsidies to rural blocks appear to be purely giveaways to incumbents in areas they already serve, awards to large ISPs for areas fully inside of other incumbents’ service footprints, or awards that indirectly duplicate and thus frustrate the objectives of the FCC’s ongoing CAF Phase II support.
Free Press also discussed the RDOF post-auction process, demanding RDOF long-form applications be closely scrutinized. According to Free Press, analysis of RDOF winners raises “concerns regarding the ability of several winning bidders to satisfy the technical and financial requirements set forth by the Commission.” Free Press said all RDOF short-form and long-form information that is subject to confidential treatment should be made available to interested parties under a protective order.
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157 Senators & Representatives Urge FCC To Thoroughly Vet RDOF Auction Winners
January 19, 2021 – A total of 157 Senators and Representatives have joined a letter to the Federal Communications Commission regarding the results of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction. In the bipartisan letter, the Senators and Representatives urge the FCC to ensure winners of RDOF auction funding can deliver on their commitments to deploy broadband service by closely scrutinizing the winners’ long-form applications. They also encourage the FCC to make the review process as transparent as possible. The two paragraphs below contain the key points of the letter:
The hard work of carrying out this program will now begin in earnest. Transparency and accountability must be part and parcel of the administration of any program, and we urge you to thoroughly vet the winning bidders to ensure that they are capable of deploying and delivering the services they committed to providing. We therefore believe it is essential that the FCC apply the scrutiny needed to ensure the funding will be used wisely and effectively, consistent with the goals of the Universal Service Fund (USF) High Cost Program. Without proper due diligence today, we fear that we will not know whether funds were improperly spent for years to come.
As responsible stewards of USF funds, we ask that the FCC redouble its efforts to review the long-form applications that will now be submitted. We urge the FCC to validate that each provider in fact has the technical, financial, managerial, operational skills, capabilities, and resources to deliver the services that they have pledged for every American they plan to serve regardless of the technology they use. We also strongly encourage the FCC to make as public as possible the status of its review and consider opportunities for public input on the applications. Such transparency and accountability will be essential to ensure the success of this program and to minimize any opportunities for fraud or abuse.
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FCC Announces Educational Materials To Help RDOF Winners Complete Long-Form Applications
January 13, 2021 – The FCC has announced that educational materials related to the detailed technology and system design descriptions that must be filed by Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I (Auction 904) long-form applicants are now available. These educational materials consist of a video tutorial, recommended standards and data fields for wireless coverage maps submitted in ESRI Shapefile format, and an optional template for submitting the information. They are available online at the FCC’s Auction 904 website under the “Education” tab. RDOF long-form applicants must upload their letter of credit commitment letters and detailed technology and system design descriptions to their FCC Form 683, and submit and certify their applications, prior to 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday, February 16, 2021.
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