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Here are all the winners of the FCC's $9.2B RDOF auction
Here is the full list of RDOF winners organized by the amount of money each bidding entity won. For the top 10, Light Reading also listed the identity of the winner and the technology it will use.
31 Min Read
LTD Broadband, Charter, SpaceX, Windstream, Frontier, Starry and CenturyLink are among the big winners of the FCC's recent Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction.
The top 10 RDOF winners are listed below and Light Reading has provided the identity of the company involved and the technology or technologies that those firms said they will use to provide Internet services. The rest of the RDOF winners list is available on page 2 of this article.
Company | Bidding entity | Amount | Locations | Number of states | Technology |
LTD Broadband | LTD Broadband LLC | $1,320,920,718.60 | 528,088 | 15 | fiber and fixed wireless |
Charter | CCO Holdings, LLC (Charter Communications) | $1,222,613,870.10 | 1,057,695 | 24 | fiber and cable |
Rural Electric Cooperative Consortium | Rural Electric Cooperative Consortium | $1,104,395,953.00 | 618,476 | 22 | fiber |
SpaceX | Space Exploration Technologies Corp. | $885,509,638.40 | 642,925 | 35 | LEO satellites |
Windstream | Windstream Services LLC, Debtor-In-Possession | $522,888,779.80 | 192,567 | 18 | asymmetric xDSL, fiber and fixed wireless |
Nextlink | AMG Technology Investment Group LLC | $429,228,072.90 | 206,136 | 12 | fixed wireless |
Frontier | Frontier Communications Corporation, DIP | $370,900,832.80 | 127,188 | 8 | fiber and fixed wireless |
Resound Networks | Resound Networks, LLC | $310,681,608.90 | 219,239 | 7 | fiber and fixed wireless |
Starry | Connect Everyone LLC | $268,851,315.90 | 108,506 | 9 | fiber and fixed wireless |
CenturyLink | CenturyLink, Inc. | $262,367,614.20 | 77,257 | 20 | asymmetric xDSL and fiber |
Source: FCC |
The auction ended last week, and the FCC released the identity of the winners Monday. The agency said the auction ended at $9.2 billion, money that will go toward providing over 5.2 million unserved homes and businesses around the country with Internet connections.
The FCC noted that cable operators, electric cooperatives, incumbent telephone companies, satellite companies and fixed wireless providers were among the winners. Indeed, companies ranging from Verizon to Rise Broadband registered to participate in the event.
The FCC's RDOF program is a reverse auction where companies and entities that submit the lowest bid for covering a particular area win – however, then they're on the hook to cover that area with broadband services. Winning bidders will receive 10 years of subsidy payments from the FCC, disbursed in equal monthly installments, and have six years to deploy broadband to winning locations.
Interestingly, the biggest winners of the RDOF auction include a wide range of companies – from massive, incumbent network operators to tiny startups – that are planning to use all sorts of technologies to deliver Internet services to rural areas.
For example, LTD Broadband won the biggest amount of money from the RDOF, collecting a total of around $1.3 billion to cover customers across 13 states. The company said it plans to do so with a mixture of fiber and fixed wireless services. According to BroadbandNow, LTD currently offers fixed wireless Internet services to around 1.6 million people across states including Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska.
Nextlink and Resound Networks are similar fixed wireless providers that also walked away with massive winnings from the RDOF. Meantime, Windstream, Charter and CenturyLink are massive, established telecom companies that also won significant amounts of RDOF money.
But there are two major surprises among the top RDOF winners: SpaceX and Starry. Starlink is the low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite Internet service from Elon Musk's SpaceX, and the FCC begrudgingly allowed the company to participate in the RDOF in part because it is only now beginning to provide commercial Internet services.
And Starry is another startup from Chet Kanojia – the entrepreneur who founded Aereo, a failed attempt to stream TV stations online – that first launched high-speed, fixed wireless services targeting dense, urban areas in 2017. Last year the company dramatically scaled back its network buildout timeline. Now, though, thanks to the $269 million it will receive through the RDOF, Starry appears to be significantly modifying its strategy to include rural areas alongside urban areas.
"Access to reliable, high-quality broadband connectivity should be a reality for every American, no matter where you live and we look forward to leveraging our technology and expertise to deliver 'happy interneting' to more communities across the United States," the company said in response to questions from Light Reading on the RDOF. The company declined to provide any further details on its RDOF plans, citing the FCC's "quiet period" rules that prevent RDOF participants from speaking publicly about the auction.
Next page: The rest of the RDOF winners list
Here is the full list of RDOF winners organized by the amount of money each bidding entity won. As in previous auctions, the FCC only disclosed the identity of the bidding entity.
Company | Bidding entity | Amount | Locations | Number of states | Technology |
Etheric Communications LLC | $248,634,963.10 | 64,463 | 1 | ||
California Internet, L.P. dba GeoLinks | $234,889,665.70 | 128,297 | 3 | ||
Consortium of AEG and Heron Broadband I | $194,378,552.00 | 49,599 | 2 | ||
NRTC Phase I RDOF Consortium | $156,714,678.20 | 125,335 | 14 | ||
Segnem Egere Consortium | $152,854,440.70 | 57,387 | 3 | ||
NexTier Consortium | $126,287,693.30 | 80,609 | 14 | ||
RDOF USA Consortium | $112,044,022.70 | 63,830 | 5 | ||
Prospero Broadband Consortium | $100,366,008.80 | 61,799 | 3 | ||
Point Broadband Fiber Holding, LLC | $78,414,413.10 | 34,472 | 5 | ||
Mercury Wireless, Inc. | $68,310,842.00 | 167,684 | 6 | ||
Co-op Connections Consortium | $61,485,589.50 | 26,909 | 8 | ||
Consolidated Communications, Inc. | $58,873,337.50 | 27,021 | 7 | ||
Frontier Communications Northwest, LLC | $57,202,650.80 | 21,336 | 4 | ||
Talkie Communications, Inc. | $57,065,010.20 | 39,098 | 2 | ||
Citynet West Virginia, LLC | $53,516,858.30 | 13,460 | 1 | ||
Consortium 2020 | $48,918,960.90 | 68,092 | 2 | ||
Computer 5, Inc. d/b/a LocalTel Communications | $48,818,171.30 | 12,530 | 1 | ||
Wilkes Telephone Membership Corporation | $46,055,343.40 | 39,870 | 2 | ||
Bay Springs Telephone Company, Inc. | $41,871,850.10 | 22,011 | 3 | ||
Continental Divide Electric Cooperative | $38,004,786.20 | 8,485 | 1 | ||
Cal.net, Inc. | $29,169,982.60 | 44,153 | 1 | ||
Commnet Wireless, LLC | $28,436,936.10 | 19,028 | 10 | ||
GigaBeam Networks, LLC | $28,067,881.20 | 9,072 | 2 | ||
Cincinnati Bell Inc. | $26,887,580.40 | 11,131 | 4 | ||
Aptitude Internet LLC | $24,655,295.20 | 13,535 | 1 | ||
Armstrong Telephone Company - Northern Division | $22,009,640.50 | 10,495 | 3 | ||
Grain Communications Opportunity Fund II, L.P. | $19,172,673.60 | 5,887 | 3 | ||
Arrowhead Electric Cooperative, Inc. | $18,462,273.10 | 4,879 | 1 | ||
RHMD, LLC | $18,303,843.20 | 6,943 | 1 | ||
Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative | $16,307,892.10 | 5,088 | 1 | ||
Direct Communications Rockland, Inc. | $15,745,252.70 | 2,120 | 1 | ||
Connecting Rural America | $14,180,599.00 | 5,076 | 4 | ||
Blackfoot Telephone Cooperative, Inc. | $12,703,077.60 | 2,687 | 1 | ||
Halstad Telephone Company | $12,141,118.40 | 1,820 | 2 | ||
South Arkansas Telephone Company | $11,387,245.50 | 5,093 | 1 | ||
Pine Belt Communications, Inc. | $11,126,003.10 | 4,220 | 1 | ||
Centre WISP Venture Company, LLC | $11,086,348.40 | 6,607 | 1 | ||
Micrologic Inc. | $10,036,047.70 | 2,076 | 1 | ||
Emery Telephone dba Emery Telcom | $9,822,853.00 | 1,602 | 1 | ||
Digital Connections Inc. dba PRODIGI | $8,583,001.40 | 4,771 | 1 | ||
Rural American Broadband Consortium | $8,471,858.10 | 3,671 | 6 | ||
Chariton Valley Communications Corporation | $8,070,272.00 | 5,002 | 1 | ||
Northern Arapaho Tribal Industries | $7,799,035.00 | 2,408 | 1 | ||
Hamilton County Telephone Co-op | $7,796,825.30 | 2,351 | 1 | ||
St. John Telco | $7,116,876.00 | 1,057 | 1 | ||
Cox Communications, Inc. | $6,636,520.50 | 8,212 | 9 | ||
Reedsburg Utility Commission | $6,439,594.10 | 4,488 | 1 | ||
Savage Communications | $6,090,479.10 | 4,541 | 1 | ||
Hawaii Dialogix Telecom LLC | $6,009,953.00 | 1,395 | 3 | ||
Tennessee Cooperative Group Consortium | $5,981,516.90 | 7,625 | 3 | ||
Peoples Telecom, LLC | $5,668,121.40 | 2,431 | 1 | ||
Cherry Capital Connection, LLC | $5,620,840.40 | 2,791 | 1 | ||
Pioneer Wireless, Inc | $5,543,142.00 | 1,638 | 1 | ||
Atlantic Broadband Finance, LLC | $5,407,684.70 | 3,876 | 1 | ||
Hotwire Communications, Ltd | $5,150,040.00 | 3,233 | 1 | ||
Shenandoah Cable Television, LLC | $5,059,616.50 | 8,642 | 2 | ||
Wisper-CABO 904 Consortium | $4,974,442.30 | 3,453 | 13 | ||
Midcontinent Communications | $4,960,473.00 | 6,506 | 3 | ||
Visionary Communications, Inc. | $4,450,264.40 | 4,184 | 2 | ||
DoCoMo Pacific, Inc. | $3,706,235.00 | 530 | 1 | ||
Daviess-Martin County Rural Telephone Corporation | $3,565,039.40 | 1,371 | 1 | ||
Rivers High Group | $3,540,398.10 | 1,315 | 1 | ||
Great Plains Consortium | $3,427,873.30 | 1,879 | 3 | ||
Cellular Services LLC. | $3,294,968.60 | 2,142 | 1 | ||
City of Farmington | $3,179,884.50 | 1,106 | 1 | ||
4-Corners Consortium | $2,598,030.00 | 635 | 1 | ||
Pine Cellular Phones, Inc. | $2,303,742.10 | 2,459 | 1 | ||
Mediacom Communications Corporation | $2,254,655.00 | 9,752 | 4 | ||
Hankins Information Technology | $2,171,844.50 | 3,727 | 1 | ||
BEK Communications Cooperative | $2,157,719.00 | 337 | 1 | ||
TruVista Communications, Inc. | $2,059,050.80 | 2,778 | 1 | ||
Minnesota Connections c/o Consolidated Tel Company | $2,040,278.70 | 979 | 1 | ||
Horizon Communications, Inc. | $2,033,292.00 | 609 | 1 | ||
Custer Telephone Cooperative, Inc. | $1,954,488.00 | 313 | 1 | ||
American Heartland | $1,821,520.00 | 1,549 | 1 | ||
FiberLight, LLC | $1,772,705.80 | 4,665 | 3 | ||
Bandera Electric Cooperative, Inc. | $1,689,601.50 | 534 | 1 | ||
LICT Corporation | $1,675,826.80 | 635 | 3 | ||
NBVDS Investment, L.L.C. | $1,655,443.40 | 2,387 | 1 | ||
Central Arkansas Telephone Cooperative, Inc. | $1,629,930.50 | 1,004 | 1 | ||
ACT | $1,622,136.00 | 925 | 1 | ||
Siuslaw Broadband, LLC dba Hyak Technologies | $1,611,684.90 | 554 | 1 | ||
HomeTown Broadband, Inc. | $1,424,229.00 | 1,295 | 1 | ||
Hughes Network Systems, LLC | $1,273,784.00 | 3,678 | 1 | ||
Union Telephone Company | $1,264,770.00 | 157 | 1 | ||
Roseau Electric Cooperative, Inc. | $1,228,494.00 | 266 | 1 | ||
Safelink Internet LLC | $1,197,661.50 | 2,728 | 1 | ||
Pembroke Telephone Company, Inc. | $1,053,063.00 | 601 | 1 | ||
Fond du Lac Communications Inc. | $1,046,123.00 | 728 | 1 | ||
Wikstrom Telephone Company | $983,637.00 | 228 | 1 | ||
SLIC Network Solutions, Inc. | $978,722.00 | 3,660 | 1 | ||
Altice USA, Inc. | $849,880.00 | 5,220 | 6 | ||
DTC Cable, Inc. | $834,597.00 | 481 | 1 | ||
Nova Cablevision, Inc. | $785,400.00 | 155 | 1 | ||
Farmers Mutual Telephone Company | $759,822.00 | 332 | 1 | ||
Scott County Telephone Cooperative, Inc. | $755,841.60 | 2,406 | 2 | ||
Horry Telephone Cooperative, Inc. | $729,554.50 | 2,267 | 1 | ||
Terral Telephone Company | $716,381.20 | 2,299 | 1 | ||
Worldwide Technologies, Inc. | $700,874.20 | 496 | 1 | ||
Somerset Telephone Co., Inc. | $669,564.00 | 1,208 | 1 | ||
AB Indiana LLC | $668,304.10 | 261 | 1 | ||
Albion Telephone Company, Inc. | $599,795.70 | 141 | 1 | ||
Palmetto Telephone Communications, LLC | $570,024.00 | 264 | 1 | ||
Federated Telephone Cooperative | $537,399.00 | 248 | 1 | ||
Daktel Communications, LLC | $531,894.00 | 66 | 1 | ||
Redzone Wireless, LLC | $507,752.00 | 755 | 1 | ||
MEI Telecom, Inc. | $479,789.10 | 175 | 1 | ||
Zito West Holding, LLC | $457,596.00 | 279 | 1 | ||
Baraga Telephone Company | $444,490.80 | 164 | 1 | ||
Lakeland Communications Group, LLC | $408,952.00 | 550 | 1 | ||
Heart of the Catskills Comm. Inc., dba MTC Cable | $398,574.00 | 188 | 1 | ||
LigTel Communications, Inc. | $385,924.00 | 416 | 1 | ||
Citizens Vermont Acquisition Corporation | $373,680.00 | 316 | 1 | ||
Allen's T.V. Cable Service, Inc. | $371,348.10 | 620 | 1 | ||
Plains Internet, LLC | $345,624.00 | 250 | 3 | ||
Reservation Telephone Cooperative | $337,080.00 | 73 | 1 | ||
Miles Communications LLC | $316,641.00 | 106 | 1 | ||
Mountain View Telephone Company | $298,572.00 | 43 | 1 | ||
RC Technologies | $263,796.00 | 118 | 1 | ||
QCOL, Inc. | $235,146.00 | 88 | 1 | ||
Socket Telecom, LLC | $232,768.80 | 393 | 1 | ||
St Paul Cooperative Telephone Association | $190,908.00 | 39 | 1 | ||
Easton Utilities Commission | $189,047.60 | 909 | 1 | ||
Newport Utilities | $159,492.00 | 59 | 1 | ||
Mountain West Technologies Corporation | $141,801.20 | 690 | 1 | ||
One Ring Networks, Inc. | $137,715.00 | 2,061 | 3 | ||
Hamilton Long Distance Company | $128,560.30 | 167 | 1 | ||
Bruce Telephone Company, Inc. | $113,745.00 | 32 | 1 | ||
Winnebago Cooperative Telecom Association | $104,637.80 | 248 | 2 | ||
WC Fiber, LLC | $98,189.50 | 945 | 1 | ||
Net Ops Communications, LLC | $69,676.40 | 1,586 | 1 | ||
Enduring Internet | $65,690.00 | 392 | 2 | ||
Gardonville Cooperative Telephone Association | $63,903.00 | 24 | 1 | ||
Northeast Missouri Rural Telephone Company | $60,126.00 | 7 | 1 | ||
Skywave Wireless, Inc. | $57,660.00 | 12 | 1 | ||
MARQUETTE-ADAMS TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE, INC. | $55,378.00 | 66 | 1 | ||
yondoo Broadband LLC | $54,833.80 | 110 | 1 | ||
Pioneer Long Distance, Inc. | $50,994.00 | 1,346 | 1 | ||
All West Communications, Inc. | $46,648.00 | 218 | 1 | ||
XIT Telecommunication & Technology | $43,254.50 | 464 | 1 | ||
Corn Belt Telephone | $42,237.00 | 38 | 1 | ||
WTC Communications, Inc. | $40,845.20 | 174 | 1 | ||
Consortium 904 | $40,470.00 | 120 | 1 | ||
MCC Network Services, LLC | $36,204.00 | 72 | 1 | ||
Pinpoint Bidding Coalition | $31,254.00 | 32 | 1 | ||
Wood County Telephone Company d/b/a Solarus | $28,848.00 | 15 | 1 | ||
NMSURF, Inc. | $26,964.00 | 212 | 1 | ||
KanOkla Telephone Association | $26,538.00 | 90 | 2 | ||
Yucca Telecommunications Systems, Inc. | $26,221.00 | 19 | 1 | ||
IdeaTek Telcom, LLC | $23,590.60 | 89 | 1 | ||
Home Communications, Inc. | $15,540.00 | 54 | 1 | ||
Barry Technology Services, LLC | $14,502.00 | 26 | 1 | ||
LR Communications, Inc. | $13,974.00 | 24 | 1 | ||
Farmers Mutual Cooperative Telephone Company | $12,447.00 | 25 | 1 | ||
PVT NetWorks, Inc. | $12,039.00 | 38 | 1 | ||
Baldwin Telecom, Inc. | $11,370.00 | 15 | 1 | ||
H&B Communication's, Inc. | $11,301.60 | 47 | 1 | ||
NTS Communications, LLC | $8,923.00 | 13 | 1 | ||
W. T. Services, Inc. | $8,785.70 | 177 | 1 | ||
Computer Techniques, Inc. dba CTI Fiber | $8,509.00 | 12 | 1 | ||
Sandhill Telephone Cooperative, Inc. | $6,396.00 | 1 | 1 | ||
Taylor Telephone Coop., Inc. dba Taylor Telecom | $5,466.00 | 2 | 1 | ||
Comcell Inc. | $4,644.00 | 8 | 1 | ||
Peoples Communication, LLC. | $4,140.00 | 4 | 1 | ||
Plateau Telecommunications, Inc. | $3,150.00 | 2 | 1 | ||
Coleman County Telephone Cooperative, Inc. | $3,142.80 | 11 | 1 | ||
Bloosurf, LLC | $1,860.50 | 17 | 2 | ||
Wildstar | $1,790.00 | 21 | 1 | ||
Unified Communications Inc. | $1,604.00 | 17 | 1 | ||
Carolina West Wireless, Inc. | $460.00 | 28 | 1 | ||
Source: FCC |
— Mike Dano, Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies, Light Reading | @mikeddano
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