Senate Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., asked FCC Chairman Julius...
Senate Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., asked FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to “quickly distribute incremental support from the first phase of the Connect America Fund (CAF) while it debates the next phase” of the program. In his March 7 letter,…
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Rockefeller said releasing the support as soon as possible “will further our shared goals of promoting broadband deployment and bringing the benefits of broadband to the millions of Americans who currently do not have service.” Also this week, CenturyLink encouraged the FCC to adopt the “modest and easily-implemented” CAF Phase I proposal filed jointly by the ABC Coalition, the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance and USTelecom, in meetings with aides to several commissioners Tuesday (http://bit.ly/ZxsfEf). That proposal (http://bit.ly/ZxsyPj) broadens the areas that would be eligible for Phase I support, making it available to all census blocks that lack 4 Mbps downstream/1 Mbps upstream service. It also proposes a specific challenge process the groups said would ensure that funding goes only to areas where it is needed. “Moving quickly to distribute the available funds with the revised rules would produce significant broadband deployment in unserved areas, starting this year,” CenturyLink said. Using the funding now “would facilitate rather than distract from the transition to [CAF] Phase II support by maintaining the momentum of broadband deployment in rural America,” it said.