2 Providers Leaving RDOF Program in Idaho and Missouri

Citing "unanticipated and exorbitant inflationary effects of network construction," Cable One is dropping out of the rural deployment opportunity fund program in Idaho, while Fidelity Cablevision is doing the same in Missouri, according to nearly identical docket 20-34 letters Friday. Cable One -- authorized to receive $3,225,684 in RDOF support over 10 years for 863 locations in Idaho -- said it has made "significant investment" in the state, but "the planned RDOF deployment in Idaho is no longer viable due to unforeseeable costs that have increased dramatically since the conclusion of the RDOF auction." Fidelity -- authorized to receive a total of $37,979 in RDOF support over 10 years for 39 locations in Missouri -- used identical language about its planned Missouri deployment. Both said the requested blanket amnesty relief that the FCC declined would have solved those inflationary pressures. In July, the FCC Wireline Bureau said no one had shown a need for widespread relief from RDOF and Connect America Fund Phase II default penalties, and thus it wasn't providing a blanket amnesty.