FCC Allows Price-Cap Telcos to Mix CAF Phase I and II Funding; RBE Duties Also Revised
Price-cap telcos can use Connect America Fund Phase II model-based support "to serve locations in eligible census blocks where the price-cap carrier has served or intends to serve a location or locations using Phase I Round 2 incremental support," the…
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FCC clarified in an order Wednesday in docket 10-90. Carriers accepted about $1.5 billion collectively in annual CAF II support over six years for broadband-oriented deployment and service. But before that, many of them received less incremental broadband support in two rounds of CAF Phase I funding. The order issued Wednesday also made various modifications to letter of credit requirements for recipients of rural broadband experiment (RBE) support. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn partially dissented from the order, saying it reversed a previous decision that prevented price-cap carriers from using Phase I funding in the same census blocks receiving Phase II support, which she said was aimed at preventing waste. "Today’s item reverses that course and allows providers to use support from both CAF Phase I and CAF Phase II to serve the very same census block," she said. She said the order didn't explain why the change was preferable to the previous policy. "Adequate cost controls should be a hallmark in every program and I find the reversal here especially troubling given the magnitude of universal service support at issue," she said.