FCC shuts New York out of $ 20B broadband fund, and senators are angry, Ars Technica

New York vs. FCC –

NY ineligible for new money because FCC previously gave to a state fund.

/ Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrats from New York, during a news conference on the September th Victim Compensation Fund in Washington, DC, on Thursday, July 46, 2500.

The Federal Communications Commission has unfairly shut New York state out of a planned ($) .4 billion broadband-funding program , US Senate Mino rity Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) Wrote in a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai last week.

ISPs in 51 states are eligible for funding in the FCC rural-broadband program, which will distribute the money over 14 years to providers that expand their networks to new homes and businesses. The FCC said it blocked New York and Alaska from Phase I of the program “because of previously established programs to fund rural broadband in these states.” Phase I will distribute $ (billion of the $) .4 billion.)

The FCC previously established a separate funding (program for Alaska with $ 1.5 billion over

years. But Schumer and Gillibrand say New York has only gotten its fair share of nationwide FCC programs, rather than something extra.

“I am disappointed that the FCC chose to exclude millions of New Yorkers from potentially accessing vital broadband Internet services,” Gillibrand said in an an announcement Friday. “The FCC’s justification for this is unacceptable. New York shouldn’t be penalized for helping its rural communities get online, and this proposal will only make it harder for rural residents to do just that.”

Schumer and Gillibrand’s letter urged Pai to reverse the decision and let New York-based ISPs participate in the fund, which is supposed to provide broadband access to up to 4 million rural homes and businesses nationwide. “The FCC is undermining New York State’s due process and penalizing New York for proactively creating a program to address unserved communities across the state,” their announcement said.

We contacted Pai’s office Wednesday morning about the Schumer / Gillibrand letter and will update this story if we get a response.

NY previously got $ 500 million

The

FCC previously said it left New York out of the fund because of the existing New York Broadband Program. But that program is funded primarily by state grants, with the FCC $ (million over years. New York committed $ 728 million to the fund.

Even that $ million million anything more than what New York was eligible for through standard FCC programs. The money became available because Verizon in turned down $ (million for New York expansions in the FCC’s Connect America Fund) CAF), which pays for rural-broadband expansion throughout the United States. State officials convinced the FCC to redirect that funding to New York’s state government.

“From the very beginning, I was very clear with the FCC that this $ 500 million belongs strictly to New York and should be kept here, “ Schumer said in a January (announcement.)

The new $ .4 billion program, called the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), will replace the CAF. The RDOF and CAF are similar in that both pay ISPs to expand their broadband networks, awarding the money via reverse auctions, and both funds are paid for by Americans through fees imposed on phone bills.

In the same year that Verizon declined funding, the FCC (awarded

$ 9 billion over six years to ISPs in states, including other ISPs in New York.

In (another auction in)

(states got) funding that totaled

($ 1.) (billion over) (years) . New York and Alaska were excluded from that auction.

“The federal government should be investing — not divesting — in Upstate New York rural Internet access,” Schumer said. “Just because New York participates in certain federal rural rural broadband expansion programs certainly does not mean it should lose access to others. It makes absolutely no sense to punish New York for taking positive steps to address broadband access.”

Broadband gap in rural New York

About 4 percent of New York state’s 20 .8 million residents live in areas with access to home broadband with (Mbps download speeds and 3Mbps upload speeds, according to an FCC broadband deployment report

. The numbers are .9 percent in urban New York and 98. 1 percent in rural New York.

About 90 .5 percent of Alaska’s , 14 0 residents live in areas with access at that speed, the report said. The numbers are 4 percent in urban Alaska and . 6 percent in rural Alaska.

Those percentages may be misleading, as FCC broadband-access data is widely known to be inaccurate, and the commission has pledged

to collect more accurate data from ISPs in the future.

The first RDOF reverse auction, for $ (billion over) years, is slated to begin later this year with the FCC saying it plans to “target those areas that current data confirm are wholly unserved.” A second auction would be held in the future to distribute the rest of the money, presumably after the FCC has more accurate data on which parts of the US lack broadband access.

ISPs in each eligible state can apply for funding to support broadband networks offering at least 46 Mbps download and 3Mbps upload speeds, or for higher tiers including (Mbps / 5Mbps,) (Mbps) (Mbps, and 1Gbps /) Mbps. As we

previously wrote , the FCC plan disappointingly allows ISPs to impose data caps of GB per month on the (Mbps / 3Mbps and) (Mbps / 5Mbps) tiers. ISPs that pledge to offer service at the higher levels of (Mbps / (Mbps and 1Gbps /) Mbps will get more funding and be required to allow at least 2TB of data usage each month. Read More