AT&T Accepts $48 M From Connect America Fund for Rural Broadband

Media Contact:

Mark Wigfield, (202) 418-0253

mark.wigfield@fcc.gov

For Immediate Release

AT&T Accepts Nearly $428 Million in Annual Support from Connect America

Fund to Expand and Support Broadband for Over 2.2 Million Rural Consumers in

18 States

--

WASHINGTON, August 27, 2015 - AT&T, Inc. has accepted $427,706,650 in annual, ongoing

support from the Connect America Fund to expand and support broadband for over 2.2 million of

its rural customers.

The Connect America Fund support will enable AT&T to deliver broadband at speeds of at least

10 Mbps for downloads and 1 Mbps uploads to over 1.1 million homes and businesses in its rural

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

AT&T's acceptance of close to one-half billion dollars annually from the Connect

America Fund represents a huge investment in broadband for its rural customers, said

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. This is one of the largest amounts accepted by any

company. The financial support provided by American ratepayers will bring significant

benefits to AT&T's rural communities, and we urge state and local leaders to help

communities realize these benefits by facilitating the broadband buildout.

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

businesses served by state:

Total Homes and

Amount of Support

State

Businesses Reached

(in dollars)

AT&T Total

1,117,806

$427,706,650

AL

66,766

$23,161,780

AR

51,792

$21,350,835

CA

141,540

$60,240,434

FL

25,473

$8,485,813

GA

67,402

$25,345,199

IL

19,077

$8,932,507

IN

45,136

$17,576,788

KS

35,375

$18,942,367

KY

84,333

$30,962,548

LA

74,978

$27,907,591

MI

86,635

$29,750,677

MS

133,981

$49,772,592

NC

13,139

$3,498,889

OH

37,603

$14,802,500

SC

30,458

$9,689,453

TN

81,173

$26,137,862

TX

98,432

$42,078,424

WI

24,513

$9,070,392

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 $9 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).

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