The FCC explained bid weights and other decisions on a planned reverse auction of $1.98 billion in Connect America Fund Phase II subsidies over 10 years for fixed broadband services, in an order released Thursday in docket 10-90, a week after approval (see 1702230019). Less bid weight helps in a reverse auction awarding funds to low bids and the order's weights favor higher speeds, higher usage allowances and lower latency: 65 for a "minimum" tier (10/1 Mbps), 45 for "baseline" (25/3 Mbps), 15 for "above baseline" (100/20 Mbps) and zero for "gigabit" (1 Gbps/500 Mbps), with 25 for high-latency and zero for low-latency service. The two lower-speed tiers have monthly usage allowance requirements of at least 150 GB and the two higher-speed tiers have 2 TB minimum allowances. Some parties urged a narrower spread between weights, but the order said: "Bids placed in the higher tiers will not necessarily win because of the generally greater costs of deploying a higher capacity network at higher speeds. Bids placed for lower speeds and usage allowances will still have the opportunity to compete for support, but will have to be particularly cost-effective to compete with higher tier bids." The agency declined to adopt preferences for certain states (where large telcos declined funding offers) or tribal lands, but it prioritized funding for such states in a Remote Areas Fund (RAF) auction to occur one year after the CAF II auction (not yet scheduled). Noting the FCC previously made $170 million available to New York to supplement its own broadband subsidy auction, the order said no other state demonstrated it has a similar program. ITTA emailed that the bid weights "came down to a balancing between two policy goals: maximizing breadth of deployment v. funding 'future-proof' networks," and it expressed disappointment the FCC majority emphasized the latter: "This outcome puts tremendous pressure on the underfunded RAF to ensure that broadband can reach those consumers who will remain unserved under the scheme adopted by the majority.” NTCA Senior Vice President Mike Romano was pleased to see "how seriously the FCC took accountability and apparently intends to examine further how best to confirm that providers can live up to their bids.”

Any grand infrastructure plan should go beyond public-private partnerships and tax credits and find ways to incorporate broadband, senators and witnesses said Wednesday during a Commerce Committee hearing. It followed another call Tuesday from President Donald Trump that Congress act on infrastructure. Senators repeatedly questioned what a broadband component should look like.

Any grand infrastructure plan should go beyond public-private partnerships and tax credits and find ways to incorporate broadband, senators and witnesses said Wednesday during a Commerce Committee hearing. It followed another call Tuesday from President Donald Trump that Congress act on infrastructure. Senators repeatedly questioned what a broadband component should look like.

Commissioners approved 3-0 a second phase of the Mobility Fund (MFII) Thursday. As expected, the FCC deferred some decisions, agreeing to seek further comment, especially on the process of challenging whether a market should receive funding (see 1702150035). The MFII provides $453 million in annual support for winning bidders to preserve and extend 4G LTE in areas where the market otherwise wouldn't support wireless broadband. The support will run for 10 years, disbursed monthly, said a news release.

The FCC approved an order setting a broad range of bid weights for a planned Connect America Fund Phase II reverse auction of almost $2 billion in subsidy support for fixed broadband/voice services over 10 years. The CAF II bid weights are designed to value "high speeds, higher usage allowances and low latency," balanced with "cost efficiencies" to deploy broadband widely, said a release Thursday. Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn voted for the order; Commissioner Mike O'Rielly partially dissented.

The FCC approved an order setting a broad range of bid weights for a planned Connect America Fund Phase II reverse auction of almost $2 billion in subsidy support for fixed broadband/voice services over 10 years. The CAF II bid weights are designed to value "high speeds, higher usage allowances and low latency," balanced with "cost efficiencies" to deploy broadband widely, said a release Thursday. Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn voted for the order; Commissioner Mike O'Rielly partially dissented.

Commissioners approved 3-0 a second phase of the Mobility Fund (MFII) Thursday. As expected, the FCC deferred some decisions, agreeing to seek further comment, especially on the process of challenging whether a market should receive funding (see 1702150035). The MFII provides $453 million in annual support for winning bidders to preserve and extend 4G LTE in areas where the market otherwise wouldn't support wireless broadband. The support will run for 10 years, disbursed monthly, said a news release.

Representatives of rural wireless carrier Smith Bagley met with aides to the three FCC commissioners and Wireless Bureau staff to push for special Mobility Fund treatment for tribal areas. The carrier “urged the Commission to afford special treatment for Tribal Lands in the Lower 48, similar to that provided in the Commission’s recent ‘Alaska Plan’ order that assigned over $1.5 billion in universal service funding to accelerate and preserve broadband deployment in Alaska over the next ten years,” Smith Bagley said in a filing in docket 10-208. Doing business as Cellular One of North East Arizona, it provides mobile communication services to customers in northern Arizona and New Mexico.

The FCC circulated a draft Connect America Fund order Feb. 13, according to the agency circulation list updated Friday. A March 30 Further NPRM on rate-of-return telco USF issues had asked whether operating expenditure limitations should be modified for carriers serving tribal lands, said a commission spokesman. "This order addresses that question."

Analysts remain bullish about the prospects of CenturyLink's planned buy of Level 3 (see 1610280052) despite new criticisms filed at the FCC, this time by Frontier Communications and Public Knowledge. "The odds of the deal closing have to be judged as being quite high," and the limited opposition "only reinforces the point," Nick Del Deo of MoffettNathanson told us Thursday. Chris Antlitz, Technology Business Research analyst, agreed: "There will be some competitive considerations and investment considerations that will need to be reviewed and negotiated, but I still think the merger will ultimately go through with minimal concessions." The FCC is considering a CenturyLink/Level 3 application to transfer licenses; the deal is also being reviewed by DOJ on antitrust grounds, and by state regulators.