Coalition to FCC: Broadband Subsidies Meant for Truly Unserved Areas, Not Some of Nation’s Most Well-Connected and Wealthy Communities

In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, a coalition of organizations noted widespread concerns about the accuracy of the FCC’s broadband maps and called the FCC’s attention to newly released information from the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) that questions thousands of locations where significant Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (“RDOF”) funding is set to be awarded to subsidize areas that are served today. CCA found that subsidies are targeted for:

• Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California
• The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Fisherman’s Wharf, the popular urban center and tourist destination in San Francisco
• Chicago’s Inner Loop business district
• Large international airports, like DFW International in Dallas-Ft. Worth and SFO International in San Francisco

The coalition is calling on the FCC “to devote resources to review questionable applications before dollars go out the door,” and explains that “CCA provides a useful playbook for doing so.” The letter is signed by the Center for Individual Freedom, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Free Press, Jennifer Huddleston, National Grange, National Taxpayers Union, Public Knowledge and R Street Institute.