ViodiTV


Opportunity Fund or Off Track? A ViodiTV Conversation with NTCA’s Mike Romano about RDOF

On December 7th, 2020, the FCC released the names of the winners of its Phase 1, reverse auction, Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). Two days later, Free Press and ViodiTV’s sister publication, the Viodi View, both reported that significant sums of RDOF support appear headed towards urban locations, potentially siphoning off funding from the target, broadband-deficient, rural areas.

RDOF Program Highlights

  • $9.2B preliminary awarded in Phase 1 (subject to FCC acceptance of long-form applications)
  • Offer commercially at least one voice & one broadband meeting specified performance requirements.
  • Operator determined rollout with certain passing milestones that culminate in 100% buildout by year 6.
  • Pricing that is comparable to the rates for similar services in urban areas.

Although the anomalies pointed out in those articles appear to be related to mapping data, a takeaway from the above interview with Mike Romano, is that broadband mapping inaccuracies are just one of many concerns with RDOF, Phase 1. Romano, NTCA’s Senior VP of Industry Affairs & Business Development, has been closely following and been providing feedback to the FCC throughout the RDOF process.

RDOF Brief Timeline

Beyond mapping, Romano cautions that the technology “should have been judged before the auction, rather than after the auction.” Romano’s concern is that the Phase 1 RDOF auction process does not consider the maturity of the technology in being able to deliver on the promises of some of the auction winners.

Further, without a measure of actual success, such as a minimum number of subscribers in a given footprint, it will not be easy to determine whether the support is helping the intended beneficiaries.

As Romano indicates, “the ball is in the FCC’s court,” since the next step is to review the long-form applications, which the winning bidders must submit by January 29th. With a Democrat-chaired FCC starting January 20th, it will be interesting to see how the next FCC judges the long-form applications and the resulting implications for RDOF.

FCC Commissioner Rosenworcel’s Red Flags

Commissioner Rosenworcel’s comments mirror many of the concerns expressed by Romano. In addition to concerns about mapping data, low baseline speed, and the structure of the program, in her January 2020 comments, Rosenworcel expressed concern about cost as a barrier to adoption and how the plan did not explicitly address that issue.

Interview Highlights:

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