Rural Digital Opportunity Fund

Conexon Connect submits its 4Q 2025 Compliance Report associated with the gap in meeting its December 31, 2024, Rural Digital Opportunity Fund 40 percent interim milestone obligation for Study Area Code 349048 (Illinois).

Conexon Connect submits its 4Q 2025 Compliance Report associated with the gap in meeting its December 31, 2024, Rural Digital Opportunity Fund 40 percent interim milestone obligation for Study Area Code 279057. The Company hereby reports that it has deployed an additional 21 locations in Louisiana since the Company’s 3Q 2025 Quarterly Compliance Report filed with the Universal Service Administrative Company on September 23, 2025.

South Central Connect, a subsidiary of South Central Arkansas Electric Cooperative, is receiving Rural Digital Opportunity Fund funding to deploy 1 Gbps/500 Mbps service to 48 Census Block Groups in Arkansas. South Central Connect hereby notifies the Federal Communications Commission of its decision to default on 13 of its 48 RDOF CBGs in Arkansas.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics released results of the 2026 Urban Rate Survey for fixed voice and broadband services, posting of survey data and explanatory notes, and required minimum usage allowance for Eligible Telecommunications Carriers (ETCs). Recipients of high-cost and/or Connect America Fund support that are subject to broadband performance obligations are required to offer broadband service at rates that are at or below the relevant reasonable comparability benchmark. Carriers subject to the Alaska Plan and

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr appointed seven members to the Board of Directors of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). Each position has a three-year term beginning on January 1, 2026, and ending on December 31, 2028. 

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) provided guidance to Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) support recipients regarding the obligation of all recipients to meet the upcoming third-year or fourth-year service milestones.

Public Knowledge and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance are launching the Connectivity Policy Corps, a nationwide program advancing digital inclusion and broadband policies that shape America’s digital future. The CPC will advance digital equity by elevating local expertise, storytelling, and community organizing into policy action that will inform debates surrounding broadband adoption and affordability to better connect and serve all Americans.

The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) submitted the contribution base amount to be used for the first quarter of calendar year 2026 (1Q2026). The total projected collected interstate and international end-user revenue base to determine the contribution factor for the Universal Service support mechanisms for 1Q2026 is $7,604,470,744. This amount was derived using the projected collected revenue reported on the FCC Form 499-Q submissions.

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling in May 2025 that the Universal Service Fund program is constitutional, Congress renewed its efforts to modernize the program. In August, the bipartisan, bicameral USF Working Group again invited public input through a request for comments on the future of USF funding structure and programs.

What was billed as the nation’s biggest rural broadband push has instead become a roadblock, said Conexon co-CEO Jonathan Chambers, who argued the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program’s long delays and muddled standards have frozen construction across rural America. Chambers, whose company partnered with electric cooperatives to deploy fiber in rural communities, compared BEAD unfavorably to the Federal Communications Commission’s earlier Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction.