RDOF Scrutinized Amid Hopes for Better Broadband Maps

The FCC high-cost USF fund was scrutinized at the Technology Policy Institute (TPI) conference in Aspen, Colorado. Many said more-accurate broadband maps will help to spend the government money more efficiently. And "you got to get real maps of broadband" before spending infrastructure funds, said Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen. Otherwise, "you end up with very inefficient, wasteful spending," he said Monday. Eventually, "where you have electricity, you’re going to have fiber," he said. "I think that’s the end goal and that’s probably a 20-year process." Some got FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund money for areas devoid of people, Ergen and others noted. "The FCC is doing the right thing because hopefully without penalty, they will let people turn in the money" they could have received from RDOF in places they won't build out (see 2108130061), he said. "I hope companies are responsible and do it," he said of bid withdrawals. RDOF's problem is how areas were defined, not with the auction itself, said Stanford University Director-Public Policy Greg Rosston. "The mapping problem has got to get solved," he told a later TPI panel. To assist with effects from the COVID-19 pandemic, "the good news is it is billions" of dollars in broadband aid, said National Urban League Chief Operating Officer Donald Cravins. "We’ve come a long way in a short time. But we’ve lost a lot of lives." It's "an opportunity for us in America" and "we’ve got to get it right," he said. "I don’t know that we can afford to get it wrong again." The U.S. may never get 100% to get broadband, said Duke University economics professor Michelle Connolly. Even with landline phones, the country never got to 100%, responded TPI President Scott Wallsten.