Carriers Urge Flexibility in Alaska Connect Fund Rules
The FCC received additional comments urging the agency to take its time finalizing rules for the Alaska Connect Fund (ACF) and provide flexibility where possible. The comments were posted Wednesday in docket 23-328. WTA agreed with comments "that it would be premature for the Commission to try to design a subsidy program for the Alaska Connect Fund in light of all ... the presently unknown conditions that will affect deployment." The broadband maps that are needed to better understand where support should flow also haven't been finalized, WTA said.
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WTA emphasized the importance of waiting for the implementation of the BEAD program, with more than $1 billion in funding expected for Alaska. “There are significant synergies between deployment of fiber broadband networks to serve fixed locations and the deployment of facilities to support mobile services, because fiber broadband service might be readily extended to wireless towers to provide necessary backhaul (and middle mile) service.”
Alaskan provider GCI urged the FCC not to set technology and speed requirements for ACF Mobile Phase II support. “While some areas require high-speed data coverage, others for the foreseeable future only require voice and text coverage to fulfill the public interest,” the carrier said. GCI also called for flexible rules, noting that “providers, with the local knowledge about the communities they serve, must have the flexibility to manage their networks.”