Oklahoma, Missouri Biggest Centers of CAF II Auction Activity
AMG Technology Investment Group, Wisper ISP, Rural Electric Cooperative Consortium and ViaSat will be big recipients in the Connect America Fund Phase II auction, receiving nine-figure support, showed results released Tuesday. The FCC said $1.49 billion will be allocated over…
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the next 10 years to expand rural broadband connectivity to 713,716 unserved homes and small businesses in 45 states. Oklahoma (16 winning bidders), Minnesota (12) and Missouri (11) attracted the most attention, the FCC said. The agency said 53 percent of those unserved homes and small businesses will receive service of at least 100 Mbps download speed, and 19 percent will have 1 Gbps speeds, and 0.25 percent of locations will have speeds of less than 25 Mbps. The 103 providers that were winning bidders must build out 40 percent of the assigned homes and businesses in a state within three years of becoming authorized to receive support, increasing by 20 percent in each subsequent year until completed by the end of year six, the FCC said. Missouri is the biggest recipient of CAF II financial support under the bidding results at $254.8 million to connect 95,130 locations, followed by California at $149 million for 51,682 locations, it said. Missouri will have the most locations connected under the auction, followed by Oklahoma with 70,727. The winners will deliver connectivity "using far less universal service support than the price cap carriers that received model-based support are now doing in the areas they elected to serve," emailed American Cable Association Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Ross Lieberman. "That’s a win for consumers and for ensuring limited federal funds are used most efficiently." He said the auction, "while certainly requiring fine-tuning, establishes the paradigm for awarding by auction model-based support in price cap territories when it lapses in a few of years.” The 33 electric co-ops among the CAF II reverse auction winners were the first such ones to receive FCC funding as broadband service providers, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association said. The 33 collectively are receiving $220 million over 10 years, it said. “We thank the FCC for allowing electric co-ops to participate," said NRECA CEO Jim Matheson. "We are committed to continuing the rural broadband conversation.”