Rural Digital Opportunity Fund

While it’s not common for an Federal Communications Commission issue to face the court of last resort, two combined lawsuits recently heard before the bench—Federal Communications Commission v. Consumers' Research and Schools, Health & Libraries Coalition v. Consumers' Research—could put millions of anchor institutions, rural communities and American families nationwide in real jeopardy of losing connectivity.

In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission distributes subsidies to broadband providers to offer high-speed broadband in unserved areas. This article examines the FCC’s largest program to date, the 2020 Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction, which distributed billions of dollars and replaced a subsidy mechanism based on engineering cost estimates. I propose a novel model to estimate the private costs of an incumbent wireline provider in areas adjacent to the incumbent’s existing infrastructure.

The Federal Communications Commission announced guidance is available on the FCC’s website for carriers that will transition from reporting in the High Cost Universal Broadband portal the geographic coordinates and addresses associated with the locations where they offer service meeting their high-cost support requirements, to reporting the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric Location IDs associated with these locations based on a list of eligible Location IDs for each carrier. In the High-Cost Fabric Order, the FCC explained that Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, Bringing Puerto Rico Toget

Spectrum  announced the launch of Spectrum Internet, Mobile, TV and Voice services to more than 153 homes and small businesses in rural areas of Perry County (IL), west of Coulterville and north of Swanwick and Winkle. Spectrum’s multi-year rural construction initiative is driven by more than $7 billion in private investment from the company and will ultimately add an additional 100,000+ miles of fiber-optic network infrastructure and deliver symmetrical and multi-gigabit speed internet access to more than 1.7 million new locations across the country.

Spectrum announced the launch of Spectrum Internet, Mobile, TV and Voice services to 135 homes and small businesses in rural areas of Washington County (IL), northwest of Beaucoup. Spectrum’s multi-year rural construction initiative is driven by more than $7 billion in private investment from the company and will ultimately add an additional 100,000+ miles of fiber-optic network infrastructure and deliver symmetrical and multi-gigabit speed internet access to more than 1.7 million new locations across the country.

The House Commerce Committee reported 20 pieces of legislation to the full House of Representatives including the following bills:  

Spectrum announced the expansion of Spectrum Internet, Mobile, TV and Voice services to more than 230 homes and small businesses in previously unserved or underserved addresses in portions of northeast Dane County and southeast Columbia County (WI). Spectrum’s multi-year Rural Construction Initiative is driven by an approximately $7 billion private investment from Charter and will ultimately connect approximately 1.7 million new homes and small businesses across the country.

Jim Stritzinger, Director of the South Carolina Broadband Office, likes “to think of the work we’re doing as an Olympic relay race.” The first leg, he said, was the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. The second leg was federal funding like the US Department of Agriculture’s ReConnect Loan and Grant Program and the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. The third leg was the American Rescue Plan Act.

The Universal Service Fund’s day in court came and went, and the U.S. telecommunications industry still has hope the subsidy will live to see another day. But even if the Supreme Court deems the USF framework constitutional, there’s still no easy path to reform the program. The Supreme Court heard arguments related to the Fifth Circuit’s decision that the USF’s funding method is unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court held oral arguments in Federal Communications Commission v. Consumers' Research, a case challenging the legality of the Universal Service Fund framework.