The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced the latest recipients of $313 million awarded through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF).
The RDOF program is designed to finance new broadband deployments in U.S. regions that currently have limited or no high-speed internet access.
Now in its eighth round, the fund has allocated more than $5 billion to date, supporting deployments across 47 states and extending broadband service to over 2.8 million locations.
The winning bidders in this round include:
- Carolina Telephone and Telegraph
- Central Telephone Company of Virginia
- Central Virginia Services
- CenturyLink of Louisiana
- CenturyTel of Alabama
- CenturyTel of Michigan
- CenturyTel of Montana
- CenturyTel of Northwest Arkansas
- CenturyTel of the Midwest – Wisconsin
- CenturyTel of Washington
- Co-Mo Communications
- Columbia Fiber
- Embarq Florida
- Jasper County Rural Electric Membership Corporation
- LigTel Communications
- OzarksGo
- Qwest Corporation
- South Central ConnectSpectra Communications Group
- Tri-County Electric Cooperative
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel commented on the awards:
“The funding announced today will help hundreds of thousands of Americans get access to high-speed, reliable broadband service.
We continue our expanded oversight of this program through the Rural Broadband Accountability Plan to make sure that applicants deliver services as promised to areas that truly need help.”
The FCC stated it is actively monitoring compliance through the Rural Broadband Accountability Plan and other oversight initiatives to ensure funds reach the intended communities and that projects meet program requirements.
As part of that oversight, the commission sent letters to 197 applicants where there was evidence of existing service or other concerns that warranted further review.
Additionally, the FCC withheld nearly $370 million in awards from certain winning bidders that had not sufficiently pursued necessary state approvals or had failed to adequately advance their applications.
The agency emphasized that all award recipients are subject to comprehensive technical, financial, and legal reviews to verify their ability to deliver on proposed broadband deployments.
(Photo by Igal Ness on Unsplash)
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