FCC Announces FairPoint Acceptance of Connect America Fund Support

Media Contact:

Mark Wigfield, (202) 418-0253

mark.wigfield@fcc.gov

For Immediate Release

FairPoint Accepts $37.4 Million in Annual Support from Connect America Fund to

Expand and Support Broadband for Over 200,000 Consumers in 14 States

--

WASHINGTON, August 19, 2015 - FairPoint Communications Inc. has accepted $37,430,669 in

annual, ongoing support from the Connect America Fund to expand and support broadband for

over 200,000 of its rural customers.

The Connect America Fund support will enable FairPoint to deliver broadband at speeds of at

least 10 Mbps for downloads and 1 Mbps uploads to over 105,000 homes and businesses in its

rural service areas where the cost of broadband deployment might otherwise be prohibitive.

FairPoint's decision to accept support from the Connect America Fund will greatly benefit its

rural customers by expanding robust broadband in their communities, said FCC Chairman Tom

Wheeler. The Connect America Fund is delivering on its promise of ensuring that all Americans

have access to the opportunities provided by modern broadband service, no matter where they

live.

Below is the amount of annual support provided by the offer and number of homes and

businesses served by municipality:

Homes and Businesses

State

Served

Amount of Funding

FairPoint Total

105,220 $ 37,430,669

AL

1,601

$ 806,445

FL

4,321

$ 1,854,554

IL

1,711

$ 1,086,151

MA

252

$ 63,258

ME

35,500 $ 13,289,220

MO

3,503

$ 1,689,794

NH

13,131 $ 4,376,606

NY

8,807

$ 2,505,011

OH

1,247

$ 420,997

OK

650

$ 215,303

PA

467

$ 155,938

VA

2,440

$ 857,021

VT

28,399 $ 8,789,359

WA

3,191

$ 1,321,014

Like telephone service in the 20th Century, broadband has become essential to life in the 21st

Century. But, according to the FCC's latest Broadband Progress Report, nearly one in three rural

Americans lack access to 10/1 broadband, compared to only one in 100 urban Americans. The

Connect America Fund is designed to close that rural-urban digital divide.

The FCC's traditional universal service program succeeded in ensuring telephone network

coverage in rural America by providing subsidies where the cost of service would otherwise be

prohibitive. In late 2011, the FCC modernized the program to support networks capable of

providing broadband and voice services, and created the Connect America Fund to efficiently and

effectively administer that support to expand broadband in rural areas where market forces alone

can't support expansion.

Over the next six years, Phase II of Connect America will provide more than $10 billion to

expand broadband-capable networks throughout rural America nationwide, all without increasing

the cost of the program to ratepayers. Overall, the FCC's Universal Service Fund allocates $4.5

billion annually through various universal service programs for high-cost areas to support voice-

and broadband-capable networks in rural America.

Carriers receiving Connect America Fund support must build out broadband to 40 percent of

funded locations by the end 2017, 60 percent by the end of 2018, 80 percent by the end of 2019,

and 100 percent by the end of 2020.

###

Office of Media Relations: (202) 418-0500

TTY: (888) 835-5322

Twitter: @FCC

www.fcc.gov/office-media-relations

This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order

constitutes official action. See MCI v. FCC, 515 F.2d 385 (D.C. Cir. 1974).

LINK:	http://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-announces-fairpoint-acceptance-connect...
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