The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued a News Release announcing that it has voted to seek comment on a proposal to extend Alternative Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) support to current recipients for additional years in exchange for increased deployment to more locations and at higher speeds. The ACAM Broadband Coalition submitted the proposal to create an Enhanced A-CAM program, which would raise the broadband speeds required by the A-CAM programs to 100 Mbps downstream and 20 Mbps upstream, consistent with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The proposal would also seek to minimize duplicative support across various federal broadband programs by using the Broadband DATA Act maps the FCC is developing. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking will also propose modifications to improve efficiency, including streamlining of the annual reporting rules.
