Nextlink Internet Announces 70% CAF Project Completion, Headwinds Slowing Construction

Nextlink is almost 2 years ahead of schedule in its Federal Communications Commission's Connect America Fund II (CAF II) broadband network construction. Nextlink was supposed to be 40% complete with its $281 million CAF II program construction but has in fact built 70% of its required locations across six states. This builds on its 50% completion rate announced in August 2022. Nextlink has also been rolling out 5x the network speeds required of CAF II program participants and has been planning to increase speeds to 10x CAF II program requirements in many CAF areas. However, FCC funding reductions could imperil these advances. “Because there are fewer locations in our rural footprint than the FCC originally projected, we are at risk of facing a funding reduction of over $21 million,” said Claude Aiken, Chief Strategy Officer. “Our build costs have increased beyond original projections due to inflation, and the funding reduction will slow our construction and hamper our goal to offer higher speeds in many CAF areas.” Nextlink has filed a petition with the FCC to allow the carrier to achieve its goals of completing CAF construction quickly and significantly exceeding program speed goals.