Federal Communications Commission DA 22-391 DA 22-391 Released: April 8, 2022 THE WIRELINE COMPETITION BUREAU IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE RURAL BROADBAND AUCTIONS TASK FORCE ANNOUNCE THE AVAILABILITY OF CONNECT AMERICA FUND PHASE II AUCTION DEPLOYMENT DATA WC Docket No. 10-90 AU Docket No. 17-182 The Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau), in conjunction with the Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force, announce that the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), has posted the total locations deployed to by Connect America Fund Phase II (CAF II) Auction support recipients, reflecting deployment as of December 31, 2021. The data is available here, https://www.usac.org/high-cost/funds/caf-phase-ii-auction/, USAC posted a spreadsheet of the data that can be directly accessed here: https://www.usac.org/wp-content/uploads/high-cost/documents/spreadsheets/HUBB-CAF-II-Auction-Certification-3-7-2022-by-SAC.xlsx. and reflects the number of locations (257,886 total) certified in the High Cost Universal Broadband (HUBB) portal as of March 7, 2022 that are receiving broadband through this program. As part of USAC’s Open Data initiative, the HUBB displays deployment and disbursement data from Universal Service Fund High Cost programs. See, generally, USAC, High Cost Tools, https://opendata.usac.org/stories/s/High-Cost-Tools/c9kr-5kd6/. The Connect America Fund Broadband Map, specifically, allows the public to see the most recently reported deployment data and disbursements, sorted by specific program and company, and also to download the data set. Users can access this map here: https://data.usac.org/publicreports/caf-map/. USAC updates this data as new data is processed and ready for publication, and more recent data will be made available on an ongoing basis. CAF II Auction support recipients are required to deploy to 40% of model locations by December 31, 2022, and some providers have already met the initial deployment requirement. Support recipients are not required to wait until the end of a specific support year to meet their deployment milestones. Recipients may request that USAC complete their verification process at any time and recipients are encouraged to report deployment data on an ongoing basis. See Connect America Fund et al., WC Docket No. 10-90 et al, Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 31 FCC Rcd 5949, 6011 (2016), para. 173 n.156 (“[I]t would be a ‘best practice’ to submit location information ‘no later than 30 days after service is initially offered to locations in satisfaction of deployment obligations.’”). As part of Chairwoman Rosenworcel’s Rural Broadband Accountability Plan (RBAP), See Rural Broadband Accountability Plan: https://www.fcc.gov/rbap. the Bureau has separately sent letters to each company that has not yet reported deployment in an authorized state. These letters will be available on the CAF II Auction website: https://www.fcc.gov/auction/903; and the Rural Broadband Accountability Plan website: https://www.fcc.gov/rbap. Redwire, Inc. has a pending transaction and related waiver request, both of which involve unique considerations. See Application for Consent to Assignment of Domestic Section 214 Authorization, WC Docket No. 22-55, at 9-13 (filed Mar. 9, 2022), https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/file/download/DOC-5fac90312f000000-A.pdf. Accordingly, a letter was not sent to Redwire at this time. The Bureau has asked these companies to explain in detail the steps underway to ensure their compliance with the initial 40% deployment milestone by December 31, 2022. 47 CFR § 54.310(c); see Connect America Fund, Connect America Fund Phase II Auction, WC Docket Nos. 10-90, 17-187, Order, 35 FCC Rcd 109, para. 1 (WCB 2020). Responses must be filed in WC Docket No. 10-90 and AU Docket 17-182 through the Commission’s Electronic Comment Filing System by May 9, 2022. For additional information contact Jesse Jachman of the Telecommunications Access Policy Division, Wireline Competition Bureau, jesse.jachman@fcc.gov. - FCC - 2