Updated: Telcos Make Broadband Deployment Commitments to FCC
Updated: Read the CN Policy Brief on the Connect America Fund Phase I filings
Continue reading CAF Phase I filing story, original posted July 24, 2012:
Today, several of the larger telephone companies made multi-million dollar commitments to the FCC to deploy broadband in currently unserved areas of the country. These providers will build out broadband to these areas over the next three years, in exchange for a one-time payment of $775 per location from the FCC’s new Connect America Fund.
Frontier, CenturyLink, Windstream, FairPoint, Consolidated, ACS, and other providers made detailed filings before the FCC today. These filings are an important part of “Phase I” of the FCC’s transition of its current $4 billion/year telephone subsidy system into the broadband Connect America Fund.
Other providers – most notably, AT&T and Verizon – told the FCC that they would not accept funding from this phase of the Connect America Fund to upgade their networks.
What’s next? Over the next three years, these carriers will build out fixed broadband service of at least 4 Mbps download/1 Mbps upload in these areas. Progress on this build out will be tracked through updates to the National Broadband Map and annual reports to the FCC. This September, mobile providers will place bids for subsidies for mobile broadband, as part of the FCC’s new Mobility Fund. Over the next year, the FCC is also working on “Phase II” of the transition.
Connected Nation will be analyzing these filings. Below are these filings. As we receive more, we will post them here.
FairPoint Connect America Fund Deployment Commitment [June 23, 2012]
Century Link Connect America Fund Deployment Commitment [June 24, 2012]
Windstream Connect America Fund Deployment Commitment [June 24, 2012]
Frontier Connect America Fund Deployment Commitment [June 24, 2012]
Alaska Communications Systems Connect America Fund Deployment Commitment [June 24, 2012]
AT&T Letter Declining Connect America Fund Phase I Support [July 24, 2012]
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