Seven network operators are slated to share millions of dollars in Nebraska broadband deployment funding through the state’s Universal Service Fund program. Awardees must file certain additional information, which must be approved by the state, before the awards will be finalized.
If all awards are approved, deployments will be made to 1,258 locations. The program has a total budget of over $19 million in this round.
One major operator, Windstream, is among the companies expected to receive funding in this round. But, based on the number of locations to be served, it wasn’t the biggest winner.
The biggest winner, measured by number of locations to be served, was Pinpoint Communications, a local provider that has won funding through several previous Nebraska funding programs. That company is expected to be awarded funding to cover some of the costs of deploying service to 417 locations.
The next five biggest winners — Glenwood Telecommunications (269 locations), Northeast Nebraska Telephone Company (220), Great Plains Communications (184), Consolidated Telephone Company (108) and a consortium consisting of Hamilton Long Distance Company, Hamilton Telephone Company, and Nebraska Central Telephone Company (35 locations) — are also smaller companies.
Windstream was the smallest winner (25 locations).
Most of the awards call for deploying service at speeds of 1 Gbps downstream and 500 Mbps upstream. But a few awards are in the symmetrical 100 Mbps “baseline” tier.
Nebraska Broadband Funding
The Nebraska USF is somewhat unique in that it awards funding using a reverse auction, where the award for an area goes to the provider that commits to deploying service for the lowest level of support. That approach has come under fire since it was used for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), which experienced a high level of defaults.
But Nebraska has imposed a range of guardrails to help prevent the problems that the RDOF program experienced.
Locations eligible for the auction were those lacking high-speed broadband in areas where the incumbent provider is a price cap carrier. Available funding was allocated by price cap carrier territory.
Lumen’s territory had the highest budget (over $9.8 million), followed by Windstream (over $5.8 million) and Frontier ($3.6 million). Lumen uses the CenturyLink name for its local service business.
Pinpoint Communications issued a press release about its Nebraska USF win. In it, Pinpoint President Tom Shoemaker said, “Pinpoint has been active in seeking funding to deploy fiber to the home in rural areas for many years and this program is a continued example of how companies, when given access to these funds, can truly serve… rural Nebraskans.”
Additional information about Nebraska broadband, including links to state funding resources, state specific Telecompetitor coverage and more, can be found on the Telecompetitor Broadband Nation webpage for the state.
Updated to clarify that Consolidated Telephone Company, not Consolidated Communications, won funding for Nebraska
