The FCC will vote later this month on plans to offer operators up to USD 20.4 billion to improve broadband services in rural areas. Chairman Ajit Pai confirmed the plan for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund has been sent to commissioners for consideration and a vote will be held at the 30 January meeting.
The Commission plans a two-phased process to provide the funding for areas not yet receiving the minimum 25 Mbps services. For Phase I, the FCC would target USD 16 billion to areas where there is no 25/3 Mbps service at all. For Phase II, the FCC would use its new granular broadband mapping approach, called the Digital Opportunity Data Collection, to target unserved households in areas that are only partially served by such broadband. Phase II would also include areas that do not receive winning bids in Phase I.
The Commission staff’s initial estimate is that approximately 6 million locations would be eligible for bidding in Phase I. The funding will be allocated using a reverse auction, similar to the previous Connect America Fund Phase II.
