The program is designed to promote broadband access in communities where it would otherwise be too costly for Internet providers to offer service.
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CenturyLink will utilize CAF II funds to supplement their own capital investment and operating expense funding to provide access to broadband service for more than 25,000 residential and commercial customers in FCC-designated rural census blocks across the company’s New Mexico service area.
The company said it will accept $500 million annually for six years. The FCC said 27 August was the final day for the carriers to decide whether to accept the offer of support from Phase II of the Connect America Fund. Most of the ten carriers are major national carriers, and their acceptance will infuse over United States dollars 9 billion into rural broadband over the next six years.
Kevin McCarter, CenturyLink east region president, said CenturyLink will “bridge the urban-rural divide” by bringing broadband services to rural Alabama communities, prompting more economic development, education and healthcare service, such as distance learning and telemedicine.
10Mbps/1Mbps is still lower than the definition of broadband, which the FCC raised to 25Mbps down and 3Mbps up. AT&T promised to expand broadband deployment in exchange for the FCC’s recent approval of its purchase of DirecTV, but not in the areas where it will use Connect America funding.
Funding comes from the FCC’s Connect America Fund (CAF), supported by a monthly charge on U.S. telephone bills. CenturyLink accepted 6 million annually to get 10Mbps Internet to almost 1.2 million rural homes and businesses in 33 states.
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The Monroe, Louisiana-based company said its rural network expansion will deliver download speeds of at least 10 Mbps and upload speeds of 1 Mbps, comparable to mid-priced speeds available in many urban areas. Other fund recipients are Cincinnati Bell, Consolidated, Fairpoint, Frontier, Hawaiian Telecom, Micronesian Telecom, Verizon and Windstream.
