[1st-mile-nm] CenturyLink Accepts Nearly $506 Million in Annual Support from Connect America Fund

[Christopher Mitchell]

I would love to see what some of the local providers could do with $11
million. Though it may not reach 25,000 in the same time span that
CenturyLink can owing to its historic monopoly, I suspect the social
benefits would be significantly larger and would actually lead to more
investment in the future. Dumping more money into a monopoly that has
little ambition to ever meet the needs of its captive audience is a bad
decision.

Seeing government put $11 million into a company that offers such a poor
service, whether measured technically or by the customer service, is
upsetting.

Not that this is the fault of the employees, who I have no doubt work hard.
But rather a system designed in the interests of a few to the detriment of
most of us.

Christopher Mitchell
Director, Community Broadband Networks
Institute for Local Self-Reliance

http://www.muninetworks.org
@communitynets
612-276-3456 x209

On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 2:54 PM, Richard Lowenberg <rl at 1st-mile.org> wrote:

> CenturyLink Accepts Nearly $506 Million in Annual Support from Connect
> America Fund to Expand
> and Support Broadband for Over 2.3 Million Consumers in 33 States.
>
> The Connect America Fund support will enable CenturyLink to deliver
> broadband at speeds of at
> least 10 Mbps for downloads and 1 Mbps uploads to nearly 1.2 million homes
> and businesses in
> its rural service areas where the cost of broadband deployment might
> otherwise be prohibitive.
>
> “CenturyLink’s acceptance of over one-half billion dollars from the
> Connect America Fund
> represents a huge investment in broadband for its rural customers,” said
> FCC Chairman Tom
> Wheeler. “This is the largest amount accepted by any company to date – and
> the opportunities
> that modern broadband will provide for the rural communities CenturyLink
> serves are priceless.”
>
> The allocation in NM:
> Number of homes and businesses reached: 25,308
> Amount to be spent: $10,942,747
>
>
> http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2015/db0827/DOC-335071A1.pdf
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> Richard Lowenberg, Executive Director
> 1st-Mile Institute     505-603-5200
> Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504,
> rl at 1st-mile.org     www.1st-mile.org
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
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>
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