Is Opportunity Knocking?
Chairman Pai’s theme for the August 1, 2019 meeting is “When Opportunity Knocks” and draws from various movie and television sequels in the pop culture landscape. The focus this month will be on several items intended to close the digital divide. The “tentpole” of this effort is a proposal to adopt the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund intended to connect millions more rural homes and small businesses to high-speed broadband networks. The FCC wants to build on the success of the Connect America Fund Phase II reverse auction. Another item will focus on updating the way Form 477 data is collected through the Digital Opportunity Data Collection, an all-new approach to mapping that will collect granular broadband availability maps from service providers using shapefiles. Read More