Connect America Fund

The SHLB Coalition has participated actively in the FCC proceeding to reform the High-Cost program and create the new Connect America Fund (CAF). These high-cost funds provide financial support for telecom and broadband networks in high cost, largely rural areas where broadband is not available because there is no private sector business case to build broadband facilities.

The SHLB Coalition supported the shift in focus to broadband networks, and the Coalition sought to ensure that community anchor institutions would receive high-capacity broadband service in these areas. The Coalition was successful in convincing the FCC to require recipients of CAF funding to serve anchor institutions, and we also succeeded in persuading the FCC to give anchor institutions an opportunity to participate in the network planning and design phase as these broadband networks are deployed.

The FCC asked for an additional round of comment in 2014, and the SHLB Coalition joined with the State E-rate Coordinators Association (SECA) in filing comments calling for recipients of CAF funding to be presumptively required to provide the Community Anchor Institutions with a fiber optic wireline connection, unless the CAI grants a waiver. An FCC decision on this matter is expected in the spring of 2015.

SHLB Documents on Connect America Fund Reform