The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) has denied 14 petitions filed by provisionally selected winners of rural broadband experiment support that sought a waiver of the requirement to file three years of audited financial statements. The petitions were filed by AirNorth Communications, Inc.; Agile Network Builders, LLC; Brainstorm Internet Inc.; Chaffee County Telecom, LLC; Cricelli, Inc.; Crystal Broadband Networks, Inc.; Declaration Networks Group; De Novo Group; Donnell, Michael D. (d/b/a San Joaquin Broadband); Giant Communications, Inc.; Last Mile Broadband; Mercury Wireless Inc.; Rural Broadband Services Corporation, Inc.; Tower Communications LLC; and Worldcall Interconnect, Inc. One provisional winner of rural broadband experiment support, Lennon Telephone Company, failed to file the required financial information and did not submit a waiver request. The WCB has denied petitions filed by Agile Network Builders, LLC, Cricelli, Inc., and Last Mile Broadband that sought a waiver of the requirement that rural broadband experiment provisional winners submit a network diagram that has been certified by a professional engineer. All of these provisional winners that were denied a waiver have been removed from further consideration for rural broadband experiment support. The $55 million in funding that they were awarded will be made available to provisionally selected “next-in-line” bidders in a future WCB Public Notice. Additionally, the WCB has denied a request by the Alliance of Rural Broadband Applicants to delay the February 3, 2015 deadline for provisionally selected winners of rural broadband experiment support to file their letter of credit commitment letters.
