Rural Digital Opportunity Fund

U.S. fiber broadband deployment is accelerating, and CostQuest’s newest fiber focus report offers a forward-looking view of where fiber coverage is expanding, who is building it, and how federal funding is reshaping the competitive map. Fiber is now serving 58.7 percent more U.S. homes and businesses than it did four years ago, with more than 26.6 million Broadband Serviceable Locations gaining fiber access since Version 1 of the Fabric, including 6 percent growth in just the past six months.

Governments spend billions of dollars to bring broadband to places that lack it. This report asks how much of the new service in the places six programs came from the subsidies, and how much would have arrived anyway. We compare the areas each program funded with similar areas it did not fund, track both over time, and call the difference the program’s effect. The main measure is access, whether a location can buy at least 100/20 Mbps from a wired or licensed wireless provider.

SpaceX is continuing to pursue its case with the Federal Communications Commission that the proliferation of low-Earth orbit satellite service renders rural broadband subsidies obsolete, while depicting the opposing arguments of "subsidy-dependent incumbents" as "unfounded" and "implausible." The company's most recent remarks on the matter came in the form of reply comments to the FCC's proceeding on modernizing High-Cost, a program operated under the Universal Service Fund that helps subsidize telecom network deployment and maintenance in rural areas.

The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Managing Director (OMD) announced that the proposed universal service contribution factor for the fourth quarter of 2026 will be 0.42 or 42.0 percent. The FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB), in consultation with the OMD, instructs the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) to apply $69 million in unused funds to offset the Schools and Libraries program demand and $56 million in unused funds to offset the Rural Health Care program demand.

CarolinaConnect Cooperative withdrew from the Federal Communications Commission's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) program. While CarolinaConnect Cooperative remains committed to delivering gigabit-tier broadband and voice services to rural communities in South Carolina, escalating construction costs to deploy broadband and voice services throughout its RDOF-funded area, combined with the relatively modest RDOF funding authorized for CarolinaConnect Cooperative, have led It to make this difficult decision. CarolinaConnect Cooperative will no longer receive RDOF support and may be subje

In its August meeting, the Federal Communications Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking titled Maximizing Efficiencies in Universal Service Administration Company that looks at changing the rules governing USAC, the Universal Service Administration. USAC is a non-profit corporation that was formed by the FCC after passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which created the Universal Service Fund.

A new "consensus-driven roadmap" on the future of the Universal Service Fund argues that universal service should be understood as an ongoing responsibility, not a goal to achieve, and offers six principles for Universal Service Fund reform.

The Future of Universal Service Reform Task Force chaired by, Mignon Clyburn and Rachelle Chong, was convened to explore how the nation’s universal service policies should evolve to meet the communications needs of the twenty-first century. Participants represented a broad range of perspectives, including consumer advocates, industry representatives, education and health care stakeholders, public interest organizations, and policy experts.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted a proposal to strengthen the management and administration of the Universal Service Fund (USF) and the FCC’s oversight of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). The proceeding builds on a prior inquiry into improving USAC’s administration of the USF and would launch a comprehensive review to ensure that funds are used for their intended purpose and the administration of those funds is efficient, fair, and cost-effective.

Judges probed the role of the $8 billion-per-year Universal Service Fund and its administrator. Conservative nonprofit Consumers’ Research is challenging the Federal Communications Commission program again, after a defeat at the Supreme Court in 2025. USF supports building and maintaining rural broadband networks, plus voice and internet discounts for low-income households, schools, and healthcare centers.