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

Thu Aug 27 20:08:15 PDT 2015

Get a good intro at our fourth annual economic development conference in
Lexington KY Sept 15-18. Chris will be there, as will the RUS director,
former RUS director Hilda Legg,  Jon Chambers of FCC, NTIA folks, and
others of that heft.

Steve Ross
Editor-at-Large, Broadband Communities Magazine (www.bbcmag.com)
201-456-5933 mobile, 781-284-8810 landline
707-WOW-SSR3 (707-969-7773) Google Voice
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On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 10:53 PM, John Badal <JBadal at sacred-wind.com> wrote:

> Mike
>
> FCC's CAF II money is only offered to price cap carriers (in NM, only
> CenturyLink, Frontier, and Windstream) and then made available to Eligible
> Telecomm Carriers ("ETC") in a state where the price cap carrier rejects
> the money for broadband deployment.   The former 2 carriets accepted the
> CAF II support for NM and Windstream rejected it.  If you're interested in
> vying for CAF II support for Windstream's eligible areas in NM you'll need
> to obtain ETC designation from our PRC and keep you're eye on future
> notices from the FCC regarding the reverse auction process for that
> rejected support.  Participation in the reverse auction and the ETC
> application are not simple and are big tasks for a little company with
> little regulatory experience.
>
> Alternatively,  the USDA-RUS has several rural broadband grant and loan
> programs for entities with sound financial and technical backgrounds.  The
> application processes there are far more predictable and a lot more help is
> made available during the process, but still can be daunting for the novice.
>
> I suggest you speak with folks who've gone through either and do your
> studies on the USDA and FCC websites.
>
> John
>
>
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone
>
>
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Michael Harris
> Date:08/27/2015 5:12 PM (GMT-07:00)
> To: Richard Lowenberg
> Cc: christopher at newrules.org,1st-mile Nm <1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org>
> Subject: Re: [1st-mile-nm] CenturyLink Accepts Nearly $506 Million in
> Annual Support from Connect America Fund
>
> So I see notices of these awards somewhat regularly, and yes, it would be
> great if the money go go to a local ISP instead of a big telco. Where/how
> would a local ISP go about applying for this fund or others like it? There
> is precious little information on the FCC's website, and the USDA grants
> requests I've read about on here don't just say "go here, download this
> form, and mail to so-and-so."
>
> Anyone have ideas? Links? Contacts?
>
> -Michael
>
> On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 5:04 PM, Richard Lowenberg <rl at 1st-mile.org>
> wrote:
>
>> Thanks for the comment, Chris.   I easily agree.
>>
>> Additionally, concerning is that the FCC is subsidizing less than
>> its stated minimum bandwidth recommendation, with The Connect America Fund
>> support enabling CenturyLink to deliver broadband at speeds of often
>> no more than 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).   This action will only
>> perpetuate the widening of the rural digital divide for millions.
>>
>> RL
>>
>>
>>
>> On 2015-08-27 13:59, Christopher Mitchell wrote:
>>
>>> 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 [5]
>>>
>>> @communitynets
>>> 612-276-3456 x209 [6]
>>>
>>> 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
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> 1st-mile-nm mailing list
>>> 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org
>>> http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm
>>>
>>
>> --
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>> 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
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>> _______________________________________________
>> 1st-mile-nm mailing list
>> 1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org
>> http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/1st-mile-nm
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Michael Harris
> --
> President, Visgence Inc.
> www.visgence.com
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>
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