Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Gets FCC Docket 19-126; No Action Seen Imminent
Though no FCC action on the matter is said imminent, the coming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund got a docket, 19-126. The Wireline Bureau, coordinating with the Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force and the Office of Economics and Analytics, opened the…
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docket, captioned “Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.” On April 12, Chairman Ajit Pai announced the coming fund, to make available up to $20.4 billion in support via reverse auction to connect about 4 million rural homes and small businesses to broadband, recapped a public notice in Wednesday's Daily Digest. Agency officials told us Wednesday that no proposal seems imminent, which would accord with stakeholder expectations from when Pai disclosed the fund (see 1904150066). None was circulating, either, at the commission. "We hope to be able to launch that proceeding later this year," Pai told reporters last month. "We have to go through the notice and comment process, but we want to get this program stood up as soon as we can because we recognize the need to close that digital divide in rural America." A spokesperson declined to comment beyond Pai's statement, to which he pointed us.