Rural Groups Urge FCC to Finish CAF II Auction Plans Without Delay to Rewrite Rules
Rural groups urged the FCC to nail down a Connect America Fund Phase II auction "with all due speed" after five years of preparatory work. "Further delay now to rewrite the rules in a manner that may tilt the playing…
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field toward lesser quality networks will not serve the needs of our rural communities and the consumers we serve," said a filing Tuesday in docket 10-90 by 33 groups calling themselves Concerned Rural Stakeholders. Hughes Network Systems and Pennsylvania government entities asked the FCC to reconsider decisions in a February order that set bidding weights for the reverse auction of broadband subsidies (see 1704210016 and 1705190044). NTCA, one of the rural stakeholders, separately cited "the negative effects of insufficient" USF support "and the ensuing unpredictable nature of the budget control mechanism on investments" by rural telcos and the rates paid by their consumers. The group urged the FCC "to act upon its pending petition for reconsideration to address such concerns so that the purported goals of USF reform and the mandates of federal law may be achieved," said a filing Monday on the association's meeting with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai.