FCC to auction remaining $2 billion in rural subsidies

The FCC’s Connect America Fund (CAF) program, which subsidizes the expansion of high-speed Internet to rural areas where the market has failed to incent deployment, provided $1.5 billion annually – $9 billion over six years – in subsidies. Companies like AT&T, CenturyLink, and Frontier accepted most of the CAF money available to them, unlike Verizon.

Now the FCC has voted to move the program forward by auctioning off the remaining $2 billion in subsidies from the areas the incumbent providers declined. The auction won’t take place for at least a year and the FCC hasn’t written the rules yet, but the agency vote is a positive sign that the FCC will maintain at least one program to help close the digital divide.

The FCC also voted to establish a mobility fund similar to the CAF program. Up to $453 million in annual support for 10 years will be awarded to carriers that deploy LTE service with speeds of at least 10/1 Mbps in areas that are not currently covered by a network.

Links:

FCC Advances $2 Billion CAF II Auction (Broadcasting & Cable, Feb. 23, 2017)

AT&T, CenturyLink accept more than $900 million in CAF money (Speed Matters, Aug. 28, 2016)

CWA to FCC: low-income families need Lifeline broadband program (Speed Matters, Feb. 23, 2017)