Comment deadlines have been set for the FCC’s Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II Report & Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Order and FNPRM), which adopted an auction framework to disburse over $2 billion of support over 10 years to deliver 10/1 Mbps or faster broadband to areas where price cap carriers declined CAF support and/or have extremely high deployment costs. In the FNPRM portion of the item, the FCC invites comment on (1) how to apply weights to compare bids with differing performance levels; (2) measures to ensure appropriate CAF Phase II support for all states; and (3) measures to expand broadband to Tribal lands. Comments on FNPRM will be due by July 21, 2016 and replies by August 5, 2016. The FCC will propose and seek comment on auction procedures in a separate proceeding.
