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CCG Consulting Questions Value of USF Subsidies for Satellite Broadband

Rural consumers are better served by broadband network buildouts within their neighborhoods than by having the federal government allot funding to support satellite broadband deployment, said a blog posted Tuesday by CCG Consulting, which supports small telecommunications carriers. It said…

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satellite providers "have a huge unfair advantage" over other bidders in reverse auctions to award broadband deployment contracts because companies like Viasat are already launching satellites and would have launched them with or without FCC grants. "Because of that, there is no grant level too low for them to accept out of the grant process" and they "can simply outlast any other bidder in the auction." Because rural customers "were already free to buy" satellite broadband systems before an FCC reverse auction, it said, the grant money does not bring new options to market (see 1907230018). A draft NPRM on a proposed $20.4 million Rural Digital Opportunity Fund explores what types of comments to seek on the issue (see 1907230061). The FCC is scheduled to consider the RDOF at its meeting Thursday.