Today's Regulatory Mix: FCC Chairman Proposes Procedures for RDOF Auction, FCC Commissioner Carr Announces 5G Upgrade Order
FCC Chairman Proposes Procedures for RDOF Auction
With financial support from the auction, service providers will expand broadband service to millions of unserved homes and businesses in rural areas. At the FCC’s June 9 open meeting, the FCC will vote on finalizing these draft procedures. Auction 904 is the first phase of the FCC’s $20.4 billion RDOF initiative, which is modeled on the FCC’s successful Connect America Fund Phase II auction in 2018. Bidding in Auction 904 is scheduled to begin on October 29, 2020.
The draft auction procedures strike a balance between building sustainable networks that will meet the needs of the future while maximizing the number of locations that receive service. The auction targets census blocks that current data show are wholly unserved. Funds will be allocated through a multi-round reverse auction format similar to that used in the Connect America Fund Phase II auction. The RDOF Phase I auction more than doubles the minimum speeds that providers must deliver to 25/3 Mbps. It also prioritizes bids offering to provide even faster speeds (up to a gigabit) and lower latency by giving those bids greater weight in the auction and awarding support to the bidder offering the best combination of speed and latency in each area once the aggregate price of all bids drops below the auction’s budget. These bidding procedures will enable providers to start planning for the start of the auction in October by determining the amount of support they will need to provide a specified level of service to a specified set of eligible areas.
FCC Commissioner Carr Announces 5G Upgrade Order
In an announcement, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr announced that the FCC will vote on his 5G Upgrade Order, the latest of Carr’s initiatives to accelerate America’s wireless infrastructure builds.
“America’s tower crews and telecom techs are building the strongest 5G network in the world. Their efforts
The 5G Upgrade Order clarifies the FCC’s 2014 rules by:
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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.