FCC Awards $13+M to CAF Winners for Rural Broadband

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The FCC Thursday authorized a total of more than $13 million for Connect America Fund Phase II (Auction 903) support for winning bids. Sixty-six applications were approved by the Wireline Competition Bureau, Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force and Office of Economics and Analytics.

The winning applications are for: Hankins Information Technology, operating in California and Newmax, LLC, doing business as Intermax Networks in Idaho and Washington state. Read their details here.

The applicants have 10 business days to submit a letter of credit meeting the Commission’s requirements that covers the first year of support and an attorney bankruptcy opinion letter. The Universal Service Administrative Company will disperse the funds to the carriers from the Universal Service Fund beginning later this month.  

The CAF II money is being allocated over 10 years to unserved areas in 45 states. The FCC states that winning bidders must provide, “at least one standalone voice plan and one service plan that provides broadband at the relevant performance tier and latency requirements at rates that are reasonably comparable to rates offered in urban areas. The locations must be in the eligible census blocks covered by the long-form applicant’s winning bids.”

Service must be offered to 40 percent of locations in a state by year three, then 20 percent more each year through year six. The total amount awarded Thursday was $13,468,201.20.

November 15, 2019

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