The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) and the Utilities Telecom Council (UTC), Crocker Telecommunications LLC, and Broad Valley Micro Fiber Networks, Inc., have filed petitions for reconsideration relating to the report and order adopted by the FCC on May 25 that establishes a framework for the Connect America Fund Phase II auction to allocate $215 million in annual high-cost support, for a total of roughly $2 billion over 10 years. NRECA and UTC seek reconsideration of the decision to exclude certain census blocks from being eligible for funding in the Phase II auction. Crocker asks the FCC to reconsider the report and order to change weightings in the service baseline and minimum performance tiers in favor of trying to “future-proof” service quality. Broad Valley asked the FCC to adopt a rule that any carrier that was a provisional winner in the Commission’s rural broadband experiment should automatically qualify for participation in the CAF Phase II reverse auction.
