Yesterday (April 29) , in a meeting organized by Conexon, Chairman Pai and FCC staff met with a large group of electric cooperatives. Each coop was a winning bidder in the CAF II auction at the highest tier — Gigabit service. As a group, electric coops will receive over $250 million, which is over 90% of all Gigabit tier funding. The coops expressed their appreciation for the work of the Chairman and staff in preparing and administering the auction. The Chairman, long a champion of rural broadband, described the follow-up to the CAF II auction — the much larger, bolder $20 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. Electric coops will actively participate in the rule making for the new fund, and in future auctions. Join us in connecting rural America.
“This was truly a seminal moment in electric cooperative history. Kudos to these early co-op leaders and Conexon for bridging the gap and bringing fiber to the home gigabit service to rural areas everywhere in Co-op Nation.”- Tim Johnson CEO, Otsego Electric Cooperative
“Many thanks Jon Chambers. It was a great and extraordinary event. It felt like a history-making or acknowledgment of a watershed moment in the history of rural broadband. Much credit to you for envisioning it before others and now proof of concept! I tip my hat to you.”- Tim Johnson CEO, Otsego Electric Cooperative
