FCC Wireline Bureau Waives Bank Safety Rating Rule for CAF and RDOF Recipients

The FCC Wireline Bureau waived until March 12, 2025, sua sponte, certain letter of credit rules for Connect America Fund II and Rural Digital Opportunity Fund recipients, according to an order Tuesday in docket 10-90. The bureau waived its requirement that a bank issuing a letter of credit to a support recipient maintain at least a B- Weiss bank safety rating (see 2311140077). "Recent submissions from banking institutions indicate that a majority of United States banks are no longer eligible to issue LOCs to auction recipients because they have a safety rating less than a B-," the order said, noting that more than 1,600 banks are no longer able to issue the LOCs since 2022. The waiver applies "only to auction support recipients that wish to retain, renew, or reestablish their LOCs with banks that previously had Weiss ratings at or above a B- but have since seen that rating fall below B-," the order said. It doesn't let support recipients obtain an LOC from a new bank that did not already provide one from a bank with a Weiss safety rating below a B-.