The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) has issued a Public Notice that provides guidance on meeting broadband service pricing and usage allowance requirements for those parties that are applying for rural broadband experiment support. Applicants that are applying for “category one” funding must construct broadband projects that offer at least one broadband service plan that provides speeds of 25 Mbps downstream and 5 Mbps upstream to all locations within selected census blocks and has a usage allowance and price that are reasonably comparable to wireline offerings in urban areas. Based on data obtained from the FCC’s recent urban rate survey, the Bureau’s Public Notice shows that for broadband offerings with speeds of 25 Mbps/5 Mbps, a vast majority of carriers offer a usage allowance of 250 GB per month at a price point ranging from $57 to $75. According to the Bureau, the “data will assist parties in truthfully certifying in their applications they will meet the threshold service requirements with a usage allowance and pricing reasonably comparable to those in urban areas.”
