Rural carriers, in addition to federal and state officials, urged FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to close a $160 million funding gap for a rural broadband deployment program by the end of the year.
About a year ago, rural carriers were given a choice to join the A-CAM broadband program, which will pay part of a carrier’s costs to bring broadband to unserved areas based on a cost model. Or, they could remain in the high-cost Universal Service Fund program, which pays a portion of carriers’ costs based on embedded costs, reported Telecompetitor.
More carriers than expected chose the A-CAM program, leading to the funding gap. Over 200 rural communications companies have written to the FCC about the issue.
Should the Commission provide additional funding of up to $200/month per eligible location, broadband services would be guaranteed to a minimum of over 70,000 currently unserved and underserved rural homes and small businesses throughout the United States, according to ITTA – The Voice of America’s Broadband Providers. ITTA represents communications companies that provide wireline and wireless broadband, voice, and video services to residential and business customers in predominantly rural areas across 45 states.
Several of the letters highlighted that when carriers accepted A-CAM support, they committed to specific broadband deployment goals, which were more aggressive than those carriers remaining on the USF.
In letters viewed by Inside Towers, officials in Iowa, the state with the most A-CAM electing companies (37), for example, wrote that, “they are well on their way with their deployment plans to meet the obligations laid out by the Commission. Allocation of funding up to $200/month per eligible location will reduce the location’s designated “reasonable request” by 3,578 locations to only 2,632 locations. Because of this funding, 2,615 additional locations in the state will receive service at 25/3 Mpbs, while 2,453 additional locations will have increased service of at least 10/1 Mpbs.”
December 26, 2017
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