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FCC Lets Loose Another Wave of Rural Broadband Funding The Federal Communications Commission is loosening its purse strings again in the name of rural broadband. The FCC on Monday said it has authorized $166.8 million in funding over the next decade to expand broadband to 60,850 unserved rural homes and business across 22 US states. Among the more than two dozen applications approved by the FCC for this round are: Central Virginia Services, an electric co-op that's getting $28.6 million to deploy 1-Gig service to nearly 11,000 locations in rural Virginia; and NTUA Wireless, which is getting $28.4 million to serve more than 7,000 homes and small businesses in Tribal areas of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Among major US carriers, Verizon Delaware is getting $148,090 to deliver 1-Gig down by 500 Mbit/s service to 22 locations in the state, and its operations in Maryland is getting $3.05 million to bring the same level of speed to 1,194 locations. A full list of second round recipients can be viewed below.
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Per the FCC, providers selected must build out to 40% of the assigned homes and businesses in the areas won in a state within three years, and buildouts must increase by 20% in each subsequent year, until complete buildout is reached at the end of the sixth year. The funding will enable unserved areas to reach "the right side of the digital divide," FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement. "Providers will be deploying gigabit-speed connections to the majority of locations for which funding is being authorized today, while nearly 8,000 homes and small businesses on Tribal lands will be getting fixed broadband service for the first time."
FCC chairman Ajit Pai said the funding will enable unserved areas to reach "the right side of the digital divide."
The funding authorization announced Monday represents the second wave of support from last year's Connect America Fund Phase II auction, following the first wave of authorized funding in May totaling $111.6 million for service to 37,148 unserved homes and businesses in 12 states. Combined, the first two rounds of authorization total $278.4 million for service to 97,998 new locations. The auction last fall allocated $1.48 billion in to help expand broadband to more than 700,000 unserved rural homes and businesses over the next ten years. Service providers will start to receive funding this month, the FCC said, noting that the Commission will be authorizing additional funding as it approves the final applications of the winning bidders from the auction.
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— Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading |
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