PAGES

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Senators urge FCC to make more rural areas eligible for broadband subsidy program, use better data for decisions

On March 9, two dozen senators published an open letter urging Federal Communications Commission chair Ajit Pai to ensure that federal funding for rural broadband expansion will reach the communities that need it most, Makena Kelly reports for The Verge. Most of the senators were Democrats or independents who caucus with Democrats, but one Republican, Cory Gardner of Colorado, also signed the letter.

The agency announced the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund in late January as a replacement for the Connect America Fund. The RDOF will give out $20.4 billion in subsidies for broadband network construction over the next decade, but, according to the senators' letter, communities that have already received funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's ReConnect program or state broadband programs won't be eligible, Kelly reports.

Pai did not respond directly to the letter, but said at a Senate Appropriations Committeee hearing Tuesday that he did not want FCC funding to go to companies that had already received funding elsewhere. "The Democratic commissioners suggested that the maps should be fixed before the RDOF auctions move forward," Kelly reports. "Republican commissioners like Pai and Brendan Carr agreed that the maps need updating, but claim that they have enough data identifying wholly unserved communities to proceed with RDOF in those areas before the maps are fixed." The FCC has been criticized for relying on maps that overstate broadband coverage. Some state agencies are trying to create their own coverage maps to gain better access to rural funding.

The letter echoes an open letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue published in late February. A bipartisan group of senators called on the USDA to make more communities eligible for its ReConnect program, since areas could not qualify that had already received money from the FCC.

No comments:

Post a Comment