All in Broadband Deployment
The FCC has released a draft Report and Order establishing a framework for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) which will be voted on at the FCC’s January 30, 2020, open meeting. Much of the $20.4 billion RDOF framework in the Report and Order is similar to what was originally proposed in the August 2019 NPRM, but with more focus on driving funding toward the deployment of future proof networks.
Update on news from December 2019
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s $600 million ReConnect Pilot Program provides loans, grants, and loan/grant combinations to construct broadband infrastructure in areas of rural America that lack access to broadband service. To date, USDA has provided awards for 25 projects totaling $229,630,148 in funding for high-speed broadband infrastructure in 17 U.S. states. The funded service areas include a total of 44,833 households.
To date, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has made seven awards under its ReConnect Pilot Program, totaling $93,140,232 in broadband funding in nine states.
An update on news from November 2019.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has announced the appointment of members to serve on the Task Force for Reviewing the Connectivity and Technology Needs of Precision Agriculture in the United States. The Task Force will hold its first meeting on Monday, December 9, 2019, at 9:30am. Nominations for membership on one of the Task Force’s four working groups should be submitted to the FCC no later than December 3, 2019.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has issued a report on its investigation of potential fraud risk in the FCC’s universal service high-cost program that supports rate-of-return carriers. Among other things, the GAO report recommends that the FCC assess the A-CAM support mechanism to determine the extent to which it produces reliable cost estimates and consider making its use mandatory all for rate-of-return carriers.
In July 2019, OneWeb reported the tests of six of its LEO satellites – download speeds of 400 Mbps with latency under 40 milliseconds, which enabled the fastest real-time video streaming in Full HD from Space. OneWeb plans to blanket the entire world with unsubsidized competitive broadband service.
This article contains recent news about broadband funding: FCC Universal Service Programs, Federal Funding, and State Funding.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has provided three awards under its ReConnect Pilot Program, totaling $16,399,401 in broadband funding in three states.
