Groups Warn of Broadband Deployment Delays With RDOF, CAF II Amnesty Window

Several industry groups, state officials and organizations raised concerns about a pending request for the FCC to grant a brief amnesty period for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction and Connect America Fund Phase II auction support recipients that are unable to fulfill their deployment obligations (see 2403060031). Groups urged the FCC in comments posted Wednesday in docket 19-126 to ensure providers that relinquish locations be prohibited from seeking support through NTIA's broadband, equity, access and deployment program for the same locations.

"Granting this request would further delay the connection of unserved households," said the Free State Foundation. The group warned that an amnesty window would "undermine future reverse auctions" and urged that the FCC "deny this request to open a consequence-free invitation to default." The Illinois Office of Broadband said it had "significant procedural and substantive concerns" about granting amnesty from default penalties. The Illinois agency said the FCC should "proceed cautiously" and not grant "broad-based waivers to anonymous parties based on generalized showings that affect the telecommunications sector generally."

A partial amnesty with reduced or no penalties "would effectively set a dangerous federal" precedent that "any excuse would be sufficient to default on commitments made to rural households," said the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). The group said it "disagrees that the abandoned rural communities can simply be absorbed into BEAD with states well on the way toward implementing their plans."

Full amnesty "is not appropriate for providers that committed to serve locations in a competitive process," said USTelecom. The group instead proposed opening a "brief window" for RDOF or CAF II recipients to voluntarily return census block groups for a reduced penalty and prohibiting those recipients from seeking other federal funding for those same locations. ACA Connects agreed, adding there is "no reasonable justification" for a support recipient or its affiliates to "receive funding to serve locations in that same area under the BEAD or other state or federal programs."

Limit the number of census block groups a provider can return for reduced penalties to "no more than twenty percent" of the census block groups that provider won in a given state and "no more than five percent" of census block groups won nationwide, said Connect the Future. The FCC should also "at a minimum consider a modified version" of its current penalties to "maintain the integrity of the USF programs and deter parties from returning their hardest-to-serve locations and foisting the duty to serve them upon the BEAD program," said NTCA.

Georgia's Rural Telephone and Broadband Association (GTBA) raised concerns about the "potential impact" amnesty may have on universal service programs. The group asked the FCC to evaluate amnesty requests case by case, saying a blanket amnesty could prolong delays in broadband deployment. Granting the request could also "discourage responsible bidders and undermine the credibility of commission initiatives aimed at bridging the digital divide," GTBA said.

The American Association for Public Broadband, which was among the groups seeking an amnesty window, defended the request. AAPB said it's "not asking that defaulters be relieved of all penalties should they take advantage of this limited grace period." Moreover, it agreed with others that awardees should be barred from BEAD money for the same locations. "Unless the FCC provides an incentive for RDOF and CAF II awardees who will not build their promised networks to relinquish those locations, they will remain unserved," the group said.

"Many RDOF support recipients are struggling to satisfy their deployment obligations because of significant and unforeseen obstacles caused by the pandemic," said Mediacom. The company said granting the request would allow any relinquished areas to become eligible for BEAD funding and "will more likely result in the deployment of faster, more reliable fiber-to-the-home broadband internet access services to those who need it the most."

"Regardless of the reason why a provider has not begun its deployment project, the FCC should provide a short amnesty window in which these providers may relinquish their awards and free committed areas for bid under other funding programs," said Next Century Cities. The group suggested a justification process in the FCC's amnesty application, saying it would "ensure that while providers with legitimate claims for amnesty will be able to provide better service with the funding they may receive under the BEAD program, bad faith actors will not profit unfairly from limited broadband funding."