PUBLIC NOTICE Federal Communications Commission 445 12 th St., S.W. Washington, D.C. 20554 News Media Information 202 / 418-0500 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov TTY: 1-888-835-5322 DA 15-157 Released: February 3, 2015 WIRELINE COMPETITION BUREAU ANNOUNCES ENTITIES UNDER CONSIDERATION AS NEXT-IN-LINE BIDDERS FOR RURAL BROADBAND EXPERIMENTS SUPPORT WC Docket No. 10-90 WC Docket No. 14-259 On December 18, 2014, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) established a process to enable the provisional selection of additional bidders for rural broadband experiments support in the event any of the initial provisionally selected bidders defaulted before the Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) finalized the list of census blocks that will be offered to the price cap carriers for Phase II of the Connect America Fund. 1 Specifically, all bidders in the rural broadband experiments interested in being considered as next-in-line bidders were required to file, by Tuesday, January 6, 2015, their most recent three consecutive years of audited financial statements, including balance sheets, net income, and cash flow, as well as a description of the technology and system design that would be used to deliver voice and broadband service meeting the requisite speeds to all locations in the funded census blocks, including a network diagram, which must be certified by a professional engineer. 2 Today, the Bureau announces the entities that successfully submitted the required financial and technical information by the Commission’s January 6 th deadline. We note that this does not determine which entities ultimately may be provisionally selected as next-in-line bidders; Attachment A simply lists the entities that submitted the required information and indicated their interest in remaining under consideration by the deadline. 3 Provisionally selected bidders have until 11:59p.m. EST today, February 3 rd , to file a letter from an acceptable bank committing to provide the bidder with a letter of credit. Once we determine whether any additional funding is available due to the failure of any current provisionally selected bidders to file a commitment letter by the required deadline, we will announce which among those on Attachment A now are provisionally selected bidders. For additional information on this proceeding, contact Ian Forbes (Ian.Forbes@fcc.gov) of the Wireline Competition Bureau, Telecommunications Access Policy Division, (202) 418-7400. – FCC – 1 See Connect America Fund; ETC Annual Reports and Certifications; Petition of USTelecom for Forbearance Pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 160(c) from Obsolete ILEC Regulatory Obligations that Inhibit Deployment of Next- Generation Networks, WC Docket Nos. 10-90, 14-58, 14-192, Report and Order, FCC 14-190, para. 83 (rel. Dec. 18, 2014). 2 See Wireline Competition Bureau Announces Deadline for Bidders Interested in Remaining Under Consideration for Rural Broadband Experiments Support to File Additional Information, WC Docket Nos. 10-90, 14-259, Public Notice, DA 14-1839 (Wireline Comp. Bur. rel. Dec. 18, 2014). 3 This list does not include entities that successfully submitted bids, but requested a waiver of or failed to meet the Commission’s requirement to file the requisite financial and technical information by the January 6 th deadline. 2ATTACHMENT A Potential Next-in-Line Bidders FRN Entity Name 0015034358 Allband Communications Cooperative 0003746898 Allen’s TV Cable Service, Inc. 0002073427 BARC Electric Cooperative 0002506384 Barry Electric Cooperative, Inc 0002477636 BEK Communications Cooperative 0015024946 Big Bend Telecom, LTD 0018928994 Callabyte Technology LLC 0002295400 City of Chanute, Kansas 0003772787 Clarence Telephone Company, Inc. 0021854278 Co-Mo Comm, Inc. 0007266703 Daktel Communications, LLC 0007690258 Delta Communications LLC 0001566306 Douglas Services, Inc. 0005420278 EPB 0001624030 Fall River Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc. 0003747722 Farmers Mutual Telephone Company 0003741576 Federated Telephone Cooperative 0023978471 French Broad Electric Membership Corporation 0018367177 Geneseo Communications Services, Inc. 0022311088 Georgia Communications Cooperative, Inc. 0003744224 Halstad Telephone Company 0005039854 Hargray of Georgia, Inc. 0024068207 Henry County REMC 0004821989 Illinois Rural Electric Cooperative 0004530812 Kit Carson Electric Cooperative 0023985237 Lake Region Technology & Communications, LLC 0023076508 Midwest Energy Cooperative dba Midwest Connections 0018562611 New Lisbon Broadband and Communications LLC 0001732742 North Arkansas Electric Cooperative Incorporative 0021320155 Northeast Rural Services, Inc. 0004364022 Northern Valley Communications, LLC 0007956725 Orcas Power and Light Cooperative 0001732718 Ozarks Electric Cooperative Corporation 0002644953 Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative 0003800570 Plateau Telecommunications Incorporated 0021344072 PREPA Networks, LLC 0024048613 Rock County Broadband Alliance, LLC 0014860530 Sacred Wind Communications, Inc. 3FRN Entity Name 0024062309 Skybeam, LLC 0010678001 Sunset Digital Communications, Inc. 0005017298 Troy Cablevision, Inc. 0016087876 United Electric Cooperative, Inc 0024051898 Valley Electric Association, Inc. 0023997562 Volunteer Energy Cooperative 0004327219 Wabash Independent Networks Inc. 0002645612 West Central Telephone Association 0004319372 Wikstrom Telephone Company, Inc. 0011915014 Wilkes Communications, Inc