Analyzing the Auction With Jonathan Chambers Community Broadband Bits Podcast 321
A year ago, we last had Jonathan Chambers of Conexon\xa0on the podcast to discuss the pros and cons of the Connect America Fund. Since then, the FCC has held an auction to expand connectivity in rural areas as part of the Connect America Fund Phase II (Auction 903) and recently released news of the winning bidders. In episode 321 of the podcast, he\u2019s back for another conversation on the process and the results.In addition to a brief history on the Connect America Fund, Jonathan and Christopher spend some time discussing the arguments for and against federal funding dedicated to rural deployment. Do ISPs really want to serve residents and businesses in rural areas? Based on the results of the auction, the answer is yes.As Jonathan notes, this year\u2019s bidding process has been more transparent in years past, but in order for the program to be a true success, there also needs to be accountability. Christopher and Jonathan also discuss the results from this auction and the strong showing that rural electric cooperatives made in the auction. They talk about some of the technological challenges that may arise for some of the bidding firms that promised results that may be beyond their capabilities. Christopher and Jonathan also discuss some of the areas of the country where firms receiving Connect America Funds will deploy.You can view lists of bid winners and the news release about the auction at the FCC website. There are also maps available at the FCC, to offer visual representations of areas to receive infrastructure, along with eligible areas, and related documents.We want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please\xa0e-mail us\xa0or leave a comment below.This show is 51 minutes long and can be played on this page or\xa0via iTunes\xa0or the tool of your choice\xa0using this feed.You can\xa0download this\xa0mp3 file\xa0directly from here. Listen to\xa0other episodes here\xa0or view all episodes\xa0in our index.Thanks to Arne Huseby for the music. The song is\xa0Warm Duck Shuffle\xa0and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.