The FCC has released a draft rural broadband order that will be considered at the FCC’s December open meeting. In the draft order, the FCC adopts a new universal service fund budget for rate-of-return carriers subject to legacy cost-based rules that is based on uncapped 2018 claims, increased annually by inflation. The increased budget comes with the condition that support recipients with deployment obligations provide broadband service at speeds of 25/3 Mbps rather than 10/1 Mbps.