FCC Awards $9.2 Billion To Deploy Rural Broadband

(RTTNews) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has awarded $9.2 billion to deploy high-speed broadband to more than 5.2 million unserved homes and businesses in rural America. The funds will be distributed over the next 10 years.

Of the 180 companies that made successful bids, Charter Communications won $1.22 billion to provide service to more than 1.06 million locations, and Elon Musk's SpaceX won $885.51 million to serve about 643,000 locations.

Other big winners in the FCC auction included LTD Broadband, which will get $1.32 billion; and the Rural Electric Cooperative Consortium, which will receive $1.10 billion.

The FCC said that millions of rural Americans in 49 states and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands will gain access to high-speed Internet service through the rural digital opportunity fund phase I auction. It estimates the funding will expand broadband to more than 10 million rural Americans.

Moreover, 99.7% of those locations will be receive broadband with speeds of at least 100/20 Mbps, with an overwhelming majority (over 85%) getting gigabit-speed broadband, the FCC said.

The FCC also noted that $6.8 billion in funding that was not allocated will be rolled over into the future Phase II auction, which now can draw upon a budget of up to $11.2 billion in targeting partially-served areas.

In October 2020, FCC adopted rules creating the 5G fund for rural America, which will distribute up to $9 billion over the next decade to bring 5G wireless broadband connectivity to unserved areas in rural America.