The Connected Nation Blog: Connect America Fund FAQ's Answered

Friday, January 20, 2012

Connect America Fund FAQ's Answered

By Phillip Brown, Director, Government Affairs & Advocacy, Connected Nation

In the short time since the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted an order that begins reforming the federal Universal Service Fund (USF) by creating the Connect America Fund and phasing out the existing High-Cost Fund, Connected Nation has noticed a big increase in the interest among Connected Nation stakeholders in the broadband mapping process and how Connected Nation’s broadband data (which is submitted for use in the National Broadband Map) might be a factor in USF broadband deployment funding.

To be sure, the National Broadband Map’s underlying data (and the data submissions Connected Nation provides for that) will be a great help to the FCC as it determines where in the U.S. Connect America Fund assistance can have the biggest impact on connecting unserved and underserved households. 

To assist Connected Nation’s stakeholders at the state and local level, as well as broadband providers, we’ve compiled a list of Frequently Asked Questions that we hope provides answers on how broadband mapping data will factor into the reformed USF.