The following article was published by Law360:
Broadband experts got together Wednesday to urge the Federal Communications Commission to offer "amnesty" for defaulting on FCC-funded rural network development projects, so that unserved areas can still receive similar grants being distributed by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
In a letter to FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, nearly 70 advocates asked that areas where Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, or RDOF, and Connect America Fund II, or CAF II, recipients have defaulted on their build-out deadlines can become eligible for another subsidy program. Under their plan, defaulted RDOF recipients would be allowed to relinquish their awards at a reduced penalty, so the affected communities become eligible instead for the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment, or BEAD, Program.
The full article is available here.