Today:  FCC Announces Winners of CAF II Auction, FCC Launches Podcast, National League of Cities Releases Small Cell Action Guide 

FCC Announces Winners of CAF-II Auction

The FCC issued a press release  for the Connect America Fund Phase II Auction (CAF-II) announcing its closure as well as the winning bidders.  There were 103 winning bidders in the auction, with the 10-year support amount totaling $1.488 billion and covering 713,176 locations in 45 states.  Of the 974,223 locations in the 30,033 eligible census block groups (CBGs), approximately 73 percent of the locations are covered by winning bids.  While winning bids are for a range of performance tiers, winning bids for downstream speeds of at least 100 megabits per second (Mbps) cover 53 percent of these locations.  And over 99.7 percent of these locations will receive at least 25 Mbps downstream speeds, more than twice the 10 Mbps minimum standard for the Connect America Fund program.  Winning bidders are required to submit a post-auction application for support (FCC Form 683) no later than October 15, 2018. Winning bidders that wish to assign some or all of their winning bids to related entities must do so by September 14, 2018, using the Divide Winning Bids process in the Public Notice.

Here are some of the winners of the FCC’s CAF II auction, ranked by the size of their winning. The list also includes the technology choices of the top 10 winners: 

FCC Launches Podcast

The FCC announced a new podcast series titled “More than Seven Dirty Words.”    The podcast aims to  “feature interviews with FCC officials and staff and others in the communications space to share untold stories, explain important policy issues, and maybe even do the impossible: make telecom interesting.”  The first episode will talk about Puerto Rico and the hurricanes that have damaged the island over the past year.  The podcasts are available for Apple and Android products at the FCC website.

National League of Cities Releases Small Cell Action Guide

The National League of Cities (NLC) released a municipal action guide to assist cities as the growth of small wireless deployment continues.  “As various wireless providers maintain that the roll out of 5G internet service is approaching, and the IoT proliferates with the connection of millions of new smart devices to the internet, cities must face the reality that to meet the increasing demands of residents, more wireless facilities and infrastructure must be deployed. With that reality, city officials must also face a number of policy, public safety, land-use and right-of-way considerations.” 

“As cities navigate this rapidly-changing policy issue with both wireless and infrastructure providers and community residents, a number of considerations for the different stakeholders begin to emerge.  This action guide from the National League of Cities (NLC) provides an overview of small cell technology, as well as guidance on how local governments can plan for, develop policy and processes around, and manage the deployment of, small cell wireless infrastructure. It will also provide city leaders with strategies for proactively engaging with wireless providers and residents to plan for small cell networks in their communities.”

____________________________

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.