LTD Won't Appeal Iowa Court Affirming Board's ETC Denial
LTD Broadband won’t appeal an Iowa court decision that affirmed an Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) decision not to grant the company an expanded eligible telecom carrier (ETC) designation. The designation was needed to get about $23.2 million for the state…
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through the FCC's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, but Iowa District Court for Polk County ruled June 15 that the IUB’s decision wasn’t arbitrary or capricious. “We are not pursuing an appeal of the Iowa court ruling,” LTD Broadband CEO Corey Hauer emailed Tuesday. Hauer noted LTD already provides rural broadband to a quarter of Iowa’s geography. “By no means are we done fighting to bring fiber broadband to unserved and underserved Iowans.” Since January, the company “has been rapidly building” fiber-to-the-home services along the Iowa and Minnesota border and aims to have service in seven “small towns and surrounding rural areas by the end of August.” The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission decided last week to rehear its earlier denial of ETC status for LTD, while the Minnesota PUC earlier this month agreed unanimously to open a proceeding on whether it should revoke LTD’s previously granted ETC status (see 2207200037 and 2207140047).