FCC Office of Economics and Analytics and Wireline Competition Bureau Seek Comment on Adjustment Factor Values for the 5G Fund
June 5 FCC notice:
https://www.fcc.gov/document/bureau-seek-comment-adjustment-factor-values-5g-fund
June 17 Federal Register Notice --
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/06/17/2020-12845/office-of-economics-and-analytics-and-wireline-competition-bureau-seek-comment-on-adjustment-factor
The Office of Economics and Analytics (Office) and the Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) of the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) propose and seek comment on specific adjustment factor values for purposes of bidding in the 5G Fund auction as well as for disaggregating legacy support. The Office and Bureau seek comment on these adjustment factor values and specifically on whether these values are appropriate to achieve the Commission's objective of distributing 5G Fund and legacy support to a range of areas across the country that are geographically and economically diverse, and to ensure that the 5G Fund supports those areas that absent such support would be unlikely to reap the benefits of 5G deployment. Comments are due on or before July 7, 2020; reply comments are due on or before August 6, 2020.
Using multi-round reverse auctions, the 5G Fund would provide up to $9 billion to support 5G service in rural areas of the country that otherwise would be unlikely to see unsubsidized deployment. Every American, including those living in rural areas, should have access to high-speed, mobile wireless broadband networks that are capable of providing 5G service in order to facilitate the development of new technologies, foster economic growth, and ensure that educational opportunities are widely available.
To account for the relative costs of serving areas that vary in terrain characteristics and potential business cases, the Commission proposed to apply an adjustment factor to make the most difficult areas to serve more attractive at auction in order to encourage more bidding for these areas. The adjustment factor also would be used to transition legacy high-cost support to 5G Fund support. The Office of Economics and Analytics (Office) and the Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) seek comment on proposed adjustment factor values and on three economic analyses that have informed their proposed adjustment factor values.
In the 5G Fund NPRM and Order, the Commission directed the Office and Bureau to propose and seek comment on the appropriate adjustment factor values and the underlying methodologies that could be used to develop them, and recommended that they inform their proposals by using data from several sources, including the U.S. Geological Survey, historical coverage and infrastructure deployment data received by the Commission, data from the U.S. Census Bureau, spectrum holdings information, and Mobility Fund Phase I auction data.
In the Adjustment Factor Comment Public Notice, the Office and Bureau propose specific adjustment factor values for purposes of bidding in the 5G Fund auction as well as for disaggregating legacy support. These proposed values reflect the Office and Bureau's evaluation of the costs and benefits of providing 5G services to different geographic areas, as informed and supported by three economic analyses developed by Commission staff and described in detail in Appendix B to the Adjustment Factor Comment Public Notice.
The Office and Bureau seek comment on these adjustment factor values and specifically on whether these values are appropriate to achieve the Commission's objective of distributing 5G Fund and legacy support to a range of areas across the country that are geographically and economically diverse, and to ensure that the 5G Fund supports those areas that absent such support would be unlikely to reap the benefits of 5G deployment.
