Rural Digital Opportunity Fund winners already defaulted on $78 million in bids

The telecommunications industry rejoiced when the Federal Communications Commission announced it was prepared to release the first batch of funding — some $311 million — from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction. But in the same breath, the agency revealed a long list of winning bidders who have already defaulted on their obligations and hinted many more could soon follow suit. More than 60 bidding entities have defaulted on winning bids totaling $78,533,385.30, covering nearly 11,000 census blocks. Default status means RDOF support “will not be authorized for these winning bids,” according to the FCC. RDOF funds that are not distributed “remain in the Universal Service Fund for later distribution through future funding mechanisms,” although it is unsure whether they’d be rolled over into the RDOF Phase II auction. The initial default total is just a small fraction of the $9.2 billion that was awarded in the Phase I auction, which covered nearly 787,000 eligible census blocks. But the amount left on the table could still increase substantially as the FCC continues to vet the applications of winning bidders.