Rural Group Concerned About CAF Fixed Auction Rules; Hughes/EchoStar Push Back
A rural electric/telco coalition voiced qualms about possible FCC bidding rules for a Connect America Fund fixed broadband subsidy reverse auction after a draft order circulated and was put on the tentative agenda for the Feb. 23 commissioners' meeting (see…
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1702020051). The draft adopts "weights to compare bids among service performance and latency tiers," and considers petitions for reconsideration, the agenda said. "We are concerned that, if weighting is not done right in the circulated item, it could undermine the prospects for a competitive auction by discouraging bidders looking to deploy higher speeds and greater network capacity in rural America -- the kind of speeds that most urban Americans take for granted," the rural coalition emailed Friday. "But we believe the Commission’s intent is to design an auction that will give all providers a reasonable opportunity to bid and win, that will capture real customer value over the life of the assets that are being supported, and that will ensure appropriate accountability for delivering services as promised to consumers in the covered areas. We’re eager to talk further with the Commission about how best to achieve these shared goals.” The statement was released on behalf of the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives, Midwest Energy Cooperative, HomeWorks Tri-County Electric Cooperative, Alger Delta Cooperative Electric Association, Great Lakes Energy, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Utilities Technology Council and NTCA. Reacting to the coalition's previous proposal, a Hughes Networks Systems Thursday filing in docket 10-90 said: "Although the Fiber Proposal purports to be a 'good-faith effort to build consensus,' it is in fact an effort to advantage fiber-based providers in the auction. Moreover, it would skew the auction results in favor of very expensive fiber-based broadband solutions, resulting in service to fewer locations. Instead, the Commission should adopt a more competitively neutral option such as Hughes’s proposal." Jennifer Manner, senior vice president of Hughes parent EchoStar, said Friday: "We’re glad to the see the FCC is moving forward with its CAF order and hope they adopt a technology-neutral approach that includes satellite so that all Americans, no matter where they live, can benefit from the program and receive quality broadband services for the lowest burden on the ratepayers that support the universal service fund."