FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks is calling on the Commission to “conduct a data driven 10-year look-back on how our [broadband subsidy] program has effectively performed in bringing broadband to our remote areas.”
The agency recently proposed $20.4 billion dollars towards the 10-year Rural Digital Opportunity Fund also known as RDOF. During remarks at the recent Broadband Communities Conference, Starks said the Commission needs to understand how its High-Cost Program/Connect America Fund has historically performed in order to better tailor the performance of the RDOF for the next 10 years.
“Sometimes you have to look back to understand how best to move forward,” said Starks.
The questions should be “where did the FCC succeed and where did it miss?” noted Starks. “Which communities have had their connectivity needs met in the way that was expected? Which haven’t, and why?”
“I don’t want to wake up in 10 years and live in a world where the FCC does not have any better understanding of how and why we still find significant numbers of our communities left out of our digital world,” he emphasized.
November 6, 2019
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