President Joe Biden's administration is struggling to meet its goal of providing high-speed internet access to people in rural America, The Texas Tribune reported Wednesday.
In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), a coalition of broadband internet service providers and nonprofit organizations said that certain beneficiaries of grant initiatives to build broadband infrastructure will He claimed that the funds were not used for their intended purpose. obtained By the Tribune. The FCC has proposed imposing fines on more than 95 applicants to the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program for defaulting. according to For submission to the committee. (Related: Biden administration seeks complete control of Americans' digital lives)
The FCC adopted a final rule to prevent digital discrimination in access to broadband services based on income level, race, ethnicity, color, religion, or national origin.
— FCC (@FCC) November 15, 2023
According to the Tribune, the FCC has come under fire for not doing enough vetting of internet service providers. The coalition says that in order for these regions to qualify for BEAD funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the FCC should allow recipients to waive the benefits without penalty. claims.
The Tribune said the letter was arranged by Texas Rural Funders, a nonprofit organization focused on rural philanthropy.
The FCC proposed imposing fines on more than 95 applicants to BEAD. according to For submission to the committee. According to the Tribune, the FCC has come under fire for not doing enough vetting of internet service providers.
Biden signed Infrastructure investment and employment law Allocating more than $42 billion to the BEAD program in 2021, according to To NTIA. The fund aims to connect more than 8.5 million homes and businesses across the United States to broadband internet. according to On the White House fact sheet.
The FCC's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) has committed $9.2 billion, of which $2.8 billion has defaulted so far, according to the Tribune.
“Today, we adopted the second RDOF Notice of Default in a year, bringing the total number of RDOF applicants proposing penalties for bid failure to 95,” said FCC Commissioner Jeffrey Starks. he said in a committee submission. “When I first adopted the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund in 2020, I wrote that we needed to ‘hold real accountability from businesses receiving grants’ and that there were ‘red flags that should not be ignored’ If applicants fail to meet their broadband deployment program obligations, it will be a setback for all of us. Late applicants will pay fines, but rural areas that are already waiting too long for broadband will pay a higher price. You will have to pay.”
Keltie Garvey, executive director of Texas Rural Funders, told the Tribune that many providers awarded funding have not yet fulfilled their commitments to provide broadband access under the RDOF program. Ta.
In December, the FCC announced that billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX company Starlink would provide high-speed broadband Internet service to more than 640,000 rural homes and businesses in 35 states under the RDOF. He admitted to refusing a $85 million award. The FCC asserted that its rejection was due to Starlink's failure to demonstrate the ability to meet RDOF requirements.
“Starlink will likely immediately reach many Americans, many of whom live and work in rural and remote areas of the country where high-speed, low-latency internet is unreliable, unaffordable, or completely unavailable. “RDOF was supposed to connect,” SpaceX Vice President of Legal Affairs Christopher Cardasi wrote in a letter to the FCC after the rejection.
The FCC and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
All content produced by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent, nonpartisan news distribution service, is available free of charge to legitimate news publishers with large audiences. All republished articles must include our logo, reporter byline, and DCNF affiliation. If you have any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact us at licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
