Comment is being sought on a petition filed by Charter Communications for waiver of the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I block eligibility criteria. Charter specifically asks the FCC to exclude a number of census blocks in New York State where Charter claims it is “in the process of deploying service of at least 300/10 Mbps” exceeding the RDOF’s minimum threshold 25/3 Mbps speed performance tier. Charter argues that deployment on the census blocks will be complete by September 2021, before an entity receiving subsidies for such census blocks at the October 2020 RDOF Phase I auction would be expected to even begin building. Comments are due by April 21, 2020 and replies by April 28, 2020.
