The Connect America Fund Phase II auction will begin in July, the FCC announced yesterday. The auction will provide up to nearly $2 billion over the next decade to expand fixed, high-speed internet service in unserved rural areas. The FCC also resolved all pending challenges to earlier FCC auction implementation decisions.
The Commission approved the auction to begin on July 24. The agency set a March 30 deadline to accept applications to take part in the auction, and set out detailed procedures. Nearly 1 million homes and businesses nationwide are in unserved rural areas where providers are eligible for support from the auction. Qualified providers will compete to offer voice and broadband service in unserved areas where, absent subsidies, there is no business case for expanding or providing service.
The auction is the first reverse multiple-round auction to provide ongoing Connect America Fund support for fixed broadband and voice service in high-cost rural areas, according to the Commission. The agency plans to hold online tutorials, workshops, webinars, and a mock auction for potential bidders. Tutorials will be available here.
In response to the FCC’s vote, USTelecom President/CEO Jonathan Spalter said the FCC’s action “paves the way for deploying broadband to some of our nation’s unserved, high-cost areas. Now we need to ensure that $2 billion flows quickly and efficiently to rural areas so more Americans have access to broadband connectivity, wherever they live.”
“There are many portions of rural America today where providers have been unable to make the business case for investment in broadband, leaving consumers and businesses longing for access,” said Shirley Bloomfield, CEO of NTCA, the Rural Broadband Association. “Many of these are adjacent to the rural areas served by NTCA members, and our members have heard the repeated pleas for deployment from these neighboring communities. We are hopeful that the measures they adopted will facilitate expansion of robust, affordable, and sustainable broadband into these areas that have been waiting for so long.”
January 31, 2018
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