S.D. PUC Shutters LTD Broadband Rehearing
The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission gave enough slack to LTD Broadband in the company’s bid to get state eligible telecom carrier (ETC) designation for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) support, commissioners said at a livestreamed meeting Tuesday. The PUC…
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voted 3-0 to grant a motion by the South Dakota Telecommunications Association (SDTA) to close docket TC21-001. The PUC initially denied the ETC request but later granted a rehearing. Before that rehearing could happen, the FCC rejected LTD’s long-form application (see 2210050051). LTD asked the commission to deny SDTA's motion and instead suspend the docket while the company seeks reversal of the FCC’s long-form decision. All LTD asks is for the PUC to wait, said attorney Jason Sutton of Boyce at the meeting. "What's the detriment to allowing this docket to sit?" South Dakota PUC members disagreed. “The commission has given LTD yards and yards to go through the process,” said Commissioner Gary Hanson (R). Chairman Chris Nelson (R) said the PUC "has invested a great amount of time and ... bent over backwards to give LTD an opportunity to make their case.” The majority earlier determined LTD couldn’t complete its RDOF buildout plan and FCC staff recently reached the same conclusion, said Nelson. "That does not give me much if any hope that given more time, there's going to be some different outcome." Broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) funding is coming, he added. “We do not want to leave this issue out there clouding the ability of companies to access BEAD funding and get broadband buildout.” Closing the docket opens the door for new federal money, said PUC Vice Chairperson Kristie Fiegen: The PUC can reopen it if LTD reverses the FCC decision.