The FCC has released the names of the winners of its Connect America Fund Phase II (CAF II) auction. The auction seeks to distribute around $1.5 billion to telecommunications companies so they can deploy services to rural areas.
Notably, a large number of the top winners in the auction said they plan to use fixed wireless technology to build out telecommunications services in rural areas. Indeed, the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) said that member companies including Broadband Corp. of Hutchison, Minnesota; ClearSKY Systems of Verona, Illinois; GeoLinks (California Internet) of Camarillo, California; Midco (Midcontinent Communications) of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Total Highspeed in Nixa, Missouri; and Wisper ISP of Mascoutah, Illinois were among the winners.
The FCC said that providers will use a variety of different network technologies to deploy their services including satellite, fixed wireless, cable and fiber. However, the agency said that the providers have to meet the FCC’s speed requirements with their services.
The agency said that 53% of all homes and businesses served with support from the auction will have broadband available with download speeds of at least 100 Mbps. 19% will have gigabit service available. And 711,389 locations—all but 0.25%—will have at least 25 Mbps service available.
The FCC said providers must build out to 40% of the assigned homes and businesses in a state within three years of becoming authorized to receive support. Build-out must increase by 20% in each subsequent year, until complete build-out is reached at the end of the sixth year, the agency said.
The Connect America Fund Phase II auction is part of a broader effort by the FCC to close the digital divide in rural America. The commission is working toward the launch of a $4.53 billion Mobility Fund Phase II auction to expand 4G LTE wireless coverage throughout rural America.
Here are the winners of the FCC’s CAF II auction, ranked by the size of their winning. The list also includes the technology choices of the top 10 winners:
| Bidder | Total Assigned Support | Locations | States | Technology |
| AMG Technology Investment Group LLC | $281,283,794 | 100,661 | 6 | Terrestrial Fixed Wireless |
| Wisper ISP, Inc | $220,319,375 | 80,149 | 6 | Terrestrial Fixed Wireless |
| Rural Electric Cooperative Consortium | $186,022,490 | 66,322 | 8 | Optical Carrier/Fiber to the End User |
| Viasat, Inc. | $122,499,877 | 190,595 | 20 |
Geostationary Satellite |
| California Internet, L.P. | $87,832,403 | 11,845 | 2 | Terrestrial Fixed Wireless |
| Commnet Wireless, LLC | $79,941,691 | 31,824 | 6 | Terrestrial Fixed Wireless |
| Benton Ridge Telephone Company | $52,371,819 | 23,957 | 3 |
Optical Carrier/Fiber to the End User and Terrestrial Fixed Wireless |
| Cal.net, Inc. | $50,516,652 | 20,859 | 1 | Terrestrial Fixed Wireless |
| Midcontinent Communications | $38,902,342 | 9,371 | 3 | Optical Carrier/Fiber to the End User and Terrestrial Fixed Wireless |
| Wilkes Telephone Membership Corporation | $32,820,017 | 13,886 | 2 | Optical Carrier/Fiber to the End User and Terrestrial Fixed Wireless |
| Tri County Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc. | $32,326,228 | 7,015 | 1 | |
| Sunset Digital Communications, Inc. | $29,575,007 | 9,093 | 2 | |
| Crystal Automation Systems, Inc. | $27,299,087 | 17,610 | 1 | |
| Hawaiian Telcom, Inc. | $18,160,638 | 3,936 | 1 | |
| ArisWave Consortium | $12,298,811 | 7,680 | 5 | |
| Newmax, LLC dba Intermax Networks | $11,556,872 | 7,952 | 2 | |
| Air Link Rural Broadband, LLC | $11,371,438 | 2,321 | 1 | |
| Westfield Gas & Electric Light Department | $10,325,401 | 5,163 | 1 | |
| Orange County REMC | $10,200,496 | 4,046 | 1 | |
| Verizon Communications Inc. | $9,476,934 | 3,361 | 7 | |
| Tri County Telephone Association, Inc. | $7,017,178 | 3,186 | 2 | |
| Computer 5 Inc. d/b/a LocalTel Communications | $6,847,092 | 1,910 | 1 | |
| Declaration Networks Group, Inc | $6,784,141 | 5,383 | 2 | |
| Citynet LLC | $6,517,708 | 898 | 1 | |
| IdeaTek Telcom, LLC | $6,186,882 | 2,490 | 1 | |
| Plains internet, LLC | $6,153,040 | 4,642 | 3 | |
| Barry Electric Cooperative | $6,103,454 | 2,308 | 1 | |
| Echo Wireless Broadband, Inc. | $5,475,911 | 1,717 | 2 | |
| Bloosurf, LLC | $5,468,497 | 5,091 | 2 | |
| Union Telephone Company | $5,437,562 | 1,468 | 1 | |
| Consortium 903 | $5,357,649 | 13,657 | 1 | |
| Inventive Wireless of Nebraska, LLC | $5,240,646 | 1,692 | 3 | |
| Redwire, Inc. | $4,766,846 | 8,041 | 1 | |
| Pine Cellular Phones, Inc. | $4,695,551 | 1,979 | 1 | |
| Mercury Wireless | $4,610,330 | 11,092 | 5 | |
| Chariton Valley Communications Corporation | $4,179,666 | 847 | 1 | |
| Northern Arapaho Tribal Industries | $4,070,664 | 849 | 1 | |
| Lake Region Technology & Communications, LLC | $4,024,501 | 2,247 | 1 | |
| Hilliary Communications Consortium | $3,992,041 | 1,335 | 2 | |
| 3E8 Broadband Solutions, LLC | $3,621,847 | 811 | 1 | |
| NE Colorado Cellular, Inc. | $3,097,732 | 807 | 3 | |
| Mark Twain Communications Company | $3,053,366 | 676 | 1 | |
| NBVDS Investment, L.L.C. | $2,776,942 | 667 | 1 | |
| Mountain West Technologies Corporation | $2,658,057 | 550 | 1 | |
| Armstrong Telephone Company - Northern Division | $2,642,413 | 1,949 | 1 | |
| Illinois Electric Cooperative | $2,276,419 | 804 | 1 | |
| Maquoketa Valley Rural Electric Cooperative | $2,262,039 | 1,107 | 1 | |
| Roseau Electric Cooperative, Inc. | $2,081,770 | 326 | 1 | |
| SW DinehNet LLC | $2,038,738 | 869 | 1 | |
| Hankins Information Technology | $1,911,329 | 1,083 | 1 | |
| Mid-States Services, LLC | $1,868,060 | 358 | 1 | |
| Allen's T.V. Cable Service, Inc. | $1,776,733 | 794 | 1 | |
| Shawnee Communications, Inc. | $1,714,708 | 567 | 1 | |
| Tombigbee Communications, LLC | $1,691,879 | 279 | 1 | |
| Federated Telephone Cooperative | $1,431,039 | 808 | 1 | |
| RTC Communications Corp | $1,326,394 | 1,203 | 1 | |
| Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative | $1,313,543 | 315 | 1 | |
| LTD Broadband LLC | $1,264,673 | 1,407 | 5 | |
| Crocker Communications, Inc. | $1,193,077 | 404 | 1 | |
| Meriwether Lewis Connect LLC | $1,183,627 | 290 | 1 | |
| Perry-Spencer Rural Telephone Cooperative, Inc. | $1,182,426 | 359 | 1 | |
| BEK Communications Cooperative | $1,182,155 | 534 | 1 | |
| Cincinnati Bell Inc. | $1,098,830 | 342 | 2 | |
| Consolidated Telephone Company | $934,934 | 358 | 1 | |
| Otelco, Inc. | $921,505 | 772 | 1 | |
| Garden Valley Telephone Company | $880,346 | 95 | 1 | |
| Wabash Independent Networks, Inc. | $669,462 | 359 | 1 | |
| Total Highspeed LLC | $640,560 | 386 | 1 | |
| Mutual Telephone Company of Sioux Center, Iowa | $627,920 | 191 | 1 | |
| West Central Telephone Association | $611,934 | 532 | 1 | |
| Interstate Telecommunications Cooperative, Inc. | $552,330 | 209 | 1 | |
| HolstonConnect, LLC | $535,417 | 517 | 1 | |
| Wikstrom Telephone Company | $532,557 | 56 | 1 | |
| Red Spectrum Communications LLC | $521,715 | 185 | 1 | |
| Jaguar Communication, Inc | $510,588 | 672 | 1 | |
| JCWIFI.com LLC | $486,424 | 175 | 1 | |
| Broadband Corp | $428,117 | 128 | 1 | |
| MGW Networks, LLC | $417,807 | 238 | 1 | |
| Valley Communications Association, LLC | $404,754 | 153 | 1 | |
| PC Telcorp, Inc. | $387,303 | 33 | 1 | |
| Farmers Mutual Telephone Company | $348,992 | 163 | 1 | |
| Ben Lomand Communications, LLC | $333,797 | 171 | 1 | |
| WPS | $324,009 | 954 | 1 | |
| Independent Networks, Inc. | $288,834 | 123 | 1 | |
| Casey Mutual Telephone Company | $244,923 | 107 | 1 | |
| Horry Telephone Cooperative, Inc. | $233,490 | 80 | 1 | |
| Velocity.Net Communications, Inc. | $230,016 | 39 | 1 | |
| Hanson Communications, Inc. | $205,818 | 35 | 1 | |
| Townes Wireless, Inc. | $190,098 | 20 | 1 | |
| Winnebago Cooperative Telecom Association | $179,957 | 101 | 1 | |
| Bruce Telephone Company, Inc. | $177,933 | 34 | 1 | |
| ClearSKY Systems, Inc. | $127,414 | 207 | 1 | |
| Tri-County Electric Cooperative | $117,784 | 106 | 1 | |
| Gila Local Exchange Carrier, Inc. | $104,499 | 29 | 1 | |
| Wood County Telephone Company d/b/a Solarus | $81,920 | 15 | 1 | |
| Johnson Telephone Company | $81,273 | 47 | 1 | |
| Fidelity Communications Company | $72,827 | 19 | 2 | |
| Fond du Lac Reservation Business Committee | $55,011 | 13 | 1 | |
| Frontier Communications Corporation | $51,553 | 23 | 1 | |
| Hardy Telecommunications, Inc | $47,435 | 7 | 1 | |
| Twin Valley Communications, Inc | $45,610 | 9 | 1 | |
| SyncWave, LLC | $24,844 | 21 | 1 | |
| Halstad Telephone Company | $19,635 | 7 | 1 |