

The Commission clearly has the ability to remove census blocks for other purposes, such as the Clyburn legislation. Under the current schedule, the Commission will remove census blocks from the auction up to two weeks before the auction begins, mostly blocks that are part of any RUS ReConnect grant awarded between June 25 and October 15. I thought it might be time to correct some of the record concerning the legislation, now introduced on a bipartisan basis in both House and Senate.įirst, the FCC claims that the legislation would delay the RDOF auction. They are unchanged and can be found here: Then, Washington does what it is so good at doing: mischaracterize, delay, obfuscate. Get rural America back to work by building necessary fiber infrastructure.Ĭongressman Clyburn liked the proposal, turned it into legislation, and the House adopted Congressman Clyburn’s legislation as part of the HEROES Act. Spend no more money than has already been allocated in the very places and for the very amounts that have already been determined. Recognize that the times call for action. So, I published a straightforward proposal: accelerate the RDOF program for those who are guaranteed to win in the auction and are prepared to move forward now and build on an expedited schedule. If there is a large funding program, and you may or may not receive funding, the program itself can be the cause for delay until the results are known.

Conexon was working with nearly 100 electric coops who were prepared to begin constructing rural fiber optic networks to every home and business in their service areas, and the RDOF caused most of the projects to pause. In March, the FCC had identified the eligible census blocks and the amount of funding.Īnd in March, across the nation, schools and businesses started the experiment of large-scale schooling and working online. In January, the FCC had adopted its RDOF auction design whereby Gigabit tier bidders would win in the auction against all other bidders.
