Updates on RDOF, NTIA, and StarLink

Jeff Lee, Little T Broadband

There have been several programs that we have been following which have potential to bring high-speed broadband service to our area. Unfortunately there seems to be a theme of delays with all.

RDOF

We mentioned the FCC RDOF program (Rural Digital Opportunity Fund) a few months back. Recall that Charter Communications submitted winning auction bids to receive federal subsidy funding for expansion of their cable service into Macon County and other parts of Western North Carolina. This has been of particular interest to those of us working on alternative broadband solutions, as approved federal subsidy programs granted in a specific area can make that same area ineligible for other funding programs.

The FCC must go through a thorough review and vetting process before they authorize a vender to actually proceed and receive subsidies for these winning auction bids. Though many hundreds of bids have already received authorization from the FCC, to date Charter has not received authorization for any of their bids nation wide.

It is not anticipated that any expansion by Charter into Macon County will be seen until 3-6 years after they receive authorization for bids. Though this means no help from Charter any time soon, it also means that many of the areas for which they won bids are still eligible for other grant funding.

NTIA

Back in August, Macon County in partnership with Balsam West and support from Little T Broadband submitted an application to the NTIA Broadband Infrastructure grant program. NTIA was scheduled to announce winners of these grants on November 15, and to begin authorizing funding by November 29.

Earlier this week, Macon County and Balsam West received notification from NTIA that application selection and grant awards have been delayed until early 2022. NTIA received 230 applications totaling $2.5B for a grant program authorized to give out $288M in awards. Because of this 10x over subscription of the grant program, the NTIA has been a bit overwhelmed and must be extremely thorough in their review of applications and selection of winners.

Though there are other sources of funding that have been made available for broadband including the new federal infrastructure bill, it typically takes 6 months or more for federal and state agencies to draft and advertise grant programs to use these new funds, and another 6-18 months after that to solicit applications, select winers, and begin to distribute funds. As an example, the FCC RDOF program took funds allocated in 2019, conducted their auction and selected winners by the end of 2020, and has still not reviewed and authorized all funding as we approach the end of 2021.

The message here is that we must remain patient. Nothing happens quickly when the federal and state governments are involved.

StarLink

SpaceX continues to be the golden child of the space launch industry, and they are continuing to boost more StarLink satellites into orbit. This has allowed them to expand the StarLink coverage areas, but their service rollout is moving at a much slower pace than they had planned.

I placed a deposit with StarLink in February of this year when they began accepting orders. For most of the year, my account listed that StarLink anticipated enabling service in our area by late 2021. I recently received an email from StarLink that their roll out has been delayed, and my account now lists availability in late 2022.

After following StarLink progress in the news, I have expected this letter and delay in service. Though there are many issues causing SpaceX to delay the rollout of their StarLink service, one of the more significant issues is related to their ability to produce the StarLink terminals (the receiver dish and router). Like every other company that uses electronics, SpaceX is experiencing significant delays in chip manufacturing. Shortages and delays in the computer chip industry have impacted product availability across the market, including iPhones, televisions, automobiles, etc.

Those of us that have been waiting on StarLink will have to wait a bit longer.

Construction Has Begun on the
South Macon Backbone!

Jeff Lee, LittleT Broadband

We are pleased to announce that construction on the South Macon Backbone project has begun this week. The fiber backbone network will extend from the south end of Franklin city limits, down 441 to Brown Rd. From Brown Rd, it will extend along the Haywood EMC power poles over the ridge to the Tessentee valley, and then on up to Scaly Mountain. Eventually this backbone network will be extended along the Dillard Rd to Highlands. Balsam West is the provider that has planned and is coordinating this construction project.

This fiber backbone is the first phase of the South Macon Broadband Expansion Project which is a collaboration between Macon County, Balsam West, and LittleT Broadband. Creation of a backbone network is the first step required to bring high speed internet into the southern part of the county, and will support expansion of service into residential and business areas.

It has taken a substantial amount of work to reach this milestone. As you drive along 441 and see communication contractors burying orange and blue conduit or stringing fiber along poles, you might think of this as the first part of an iceberg sticking out of the water. Though you only see a little above water, there is a large amount of ice below water that cannot be seen. That part you cannot see represents several years of hard work to plan, develop relationships and agreements, secure funding, order materials, and finally to kick off construction.

Once the backbone network is complete to Scaly Mountain, as part of the agreement between Balsam West and Macon County, high speed internet service will be provided to the Otto and Scaly Mountain Community Centers, and to the Sky Valley-Scaly Mountain Volunteer Fire and Rescue facility. We are also pleased to announce that LittleT Broadband is being awarded a grant through the Western Regional Commission to fund the installation of public hotspots at the Otto and Scaly Mountain Community Centers, and the Sky Valley-Scaly Mountain VFR facility. These grant funds are being made available through the state of North Carolina Student Connect program.

LittleT has begun coordinating with the Community Association and the VFR organizations to plan creation of these public hotspots. Our goal is to light up all three hotspots in January 2022 when the backbone network is complete to Scaly Mountain.

With the completion of the backbone network, targeted for January 2022 barring weather or other unforeseen delays, the next phase of the South Macon Broadband Expansion Project will be to begin the work of extending high speed service into the surrounding community. Macon County in partnership with Balsam West currently has a grant application pending with the federal National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA). This grant funding, if received, will be used to fund creation of fiber to the home service in the East Otto, Scaly Mountain, and the Nantahala Lake communities. See our previous news post here.

Grant awards for this program will be announced by NTIA on November 15th, and these results will determine our next steps. If grant monies are received from NTIA, construction could immediately begin on the expansion from the South Macon backbone and at Nantahala Lake. If this grant application is rejected, we will need refocus our efforts to apply for other federal and state grant awards.

It is nice to have the opportunity to announce some visible progress. Thank you to all who have supported the efforts of LittleT broadband.

Funding Broadband in
Macon County - NTIA
Broadband Infrastructure Grant

The National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA) of the US Dept of Commerce announced a grant funding opportunity this spring for broadband infrastructure. Though this $288M fund for the country is not as large as some of the recent FCC and USDA programs, it is a bit groundbreaking. Unserved areas, such as parts of Macon County, are more easily qualified for these funds, and it is specifically intended for public/private partnerships.

Macon County in partnership with Balsam West decided to apply for funds from this grant program to help cover the cost of constructing new fiber broadband networks in two parts of the county. The areas are illustrated in the following map.

The first proposed area in south Macon represents Phase 2 of the South Macon Broadband Expansion project that was kicked off last spring. Phase 1 of this project is currently funded and underway, and will construct a fiber backbone from Franklin to Scaly Mountain, making the Otto and Scaly Mountain Community Centers and the Sky Valley-Scaly Mountain Volunteer Fire & Rescue internet hotspots. Once the backbone is complete, Phase 2 calls for expansion of fiber broadband service from this backbone into the surrounding communities of East Otto and Scaly Mountain.

The second proposed area is located in the Nantahala township of northwest Macon. For this project, existing fiber broadband service that runs to Nantahala High School would be expanded into the community.

Development of this application was a true team effort. Macon County is the official grant applicant with Balsam West as the Internet Service Provider and development partner. The Dogwood Trust provided assistance by covering the cost of professional grant writing services, and LittleT Broadband provided GIS and data analysis support. The final application was submitted to NTIA on August 17.

It is expected that the grant awards will be announced by November 15, 2021. Though Macon County and its development partners are hopeful to win a grant from this program, the outcome of the process is not certain as it is a national competition for funds. For this reason, the application team is already setting its sights on the next funding opportunities that will become available later this year.

Where is StarLink?

Jeff Lee, LittleT Broadband

Many in our area have been waiting patiently for the StarLink satellite internet service that is under development by SpaceX. I personally placed a deposit back in February of this year, but have not heard from the company yet. So, I have to assume that they are not ready to add service in our area.

To date, SpaceX has launched 1,650 StarLink satellites into low earth orbit out of a planned 12,000. The claim is that they should have minimal world-wide coverage by this fall. Earlier this year service was only offered in the higher latitudes - the Northern US, Canada, the UK, and Northern Europe. However, that continues to expand as more satellites are launched and put into service, and I have seen reports of beta test users in Alabama and other parts of the South.

The performance numbers that have been documented through the various speed test apps have been impressive. Though it varies from location to location, the StarLink service to date has been able to achieve an average download speed of 97 Mbps, with an average latency of around 45 ms. This places StarLink in a competitive position (performance wise) with fixed (land-based) broadband services. Clearly our slow Frontier DSL and satellite services from Hughes and Viasat don’t even come close.

At this time StarLink is still only offering beta service. This is not a full commercial internet service, as it is not available to all interested potential customers, does not have full regulatory approval from the FCC and other agencies, the final service costs and plans have not yet been established, and there are routine service outages as SpaceX works to dial in the new network, get more satellites in orbit, and build more base stations.

StarLink is not going to be a solution for everyone in our area. Due to the limited number of satellites in orbit, the StarLink transceiver dish must have clear open sky view down to 25 degrees above the horizon to the north. A single tree in within its line of site to a satellite can cause service disruption. Given the forested mountain ridges of our area, this will make good reception for many folks almost impossible. There is a StarLink phone app available to help one determine if a clear view can be provided for the dish. The hope is that this requirement will be relaxed over time.

When will the StarLink be available in our area? No one is really sure. The claim is that there will be more general availability of service by September, but this is not a certainty. Those that have already placed deposits with StarLink will be notified first, and general service announcements will come later. There is an expectation however, that the StarLink service will be generally available before new high speed broadband services are able to reach our homes, and this could provide some of us an internet solution while we wait for something better. Only time will tell.

In the mean time, we will watch the news, follow the progress, and continue to keep you informed.

RDOF Update

Jeff Lee, LittleT Broadband

I posted an article back in late May about the FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program (RDOF), and the tentative auction wins that could impact our area at some point in the future. Providers that submitted winning bids in the 904 auction were required to file long form applications by the end of January, 2021. Since that time, the FCC has been reviewing the long form applications with the goal of approving them and beginning the subsidy process for the providers that are ready to proceed.

The FCC released two documents late last month which announce preliminary results of their review. I say preliminary, because this review process has not yet been completed for all applications. My interpretation is that the FCC completed review for the smaller and easier applications, and is continuing the review/approval process for the larger and more difficult ones. To date, approval on bids for the auction's the largest winners including Charter Communications has not been announced. In the documents mentioned above, the FCC provided preliminary lists for auction bids that are Ready to Authorize, and Bids in Default.

Ready to Authorize

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-21-909A2.pdf

This document is a list of the first winning bidders whose long form applications have been approved and ready for grant subsidy funding. For these applicants, the FCC will issue a public notice directing the Universal Service Administration Company (USAC) to disperse support payments from the Universal Service Fund. The construction time clock for these providers will begin once the public notice has been issued and monthly support payments begin.

No winning bids for North Carolina have been approved as of this date.

Bids in Default

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-21-910A2.pdf

If a winning bidder either fails to submit a long form application within the required timeframe, or notifies the FCC they will not pursue one or more blocks for which they placed bids, the associated bid is considered "in default”. Census blocks for bids in default, will not be served by the associated provider, and these blocks will be returned to the eligible area pool to become available for the next auction. Providers that default on RDOF bids are subject to financial penalties, however the penalties are small compared to the cost of building a network, and are considered by some large companies to simply be a cost of doing business. In other words, these penalties do not prevent a company from bailing on their bid commitment if they decide the business case is not worth the effort.

4 small bids in eastern North Carolina are listed in default. However, no bids in the WNC area have yet been declared in default.

As previously mentioned, these published lists are preliminary. This means that there will be more bids added to the Ready to Authorize and Bids in Default lists. Unfortunately it is too early to tell where Macon and the other WNC counties will fall once the process is complete. 

How Can I Help?

Jeff Lee, LittleT Broadband

In addition to requests for updates on broadband developments, we have also received a few requests from individuals asking what they can do to help. Though not everyone has the time to become directly involved, there are a number of things that can be done by anyone to make a difference and help get our community better connected.

Take the NC Broadband Survey

https://www.ncbroadband.gov/broadband-nc/north-carolina-broadband-survey

One of the most important ways everyone in the area can help is by taking the NC Broadband Survey. Though I can hear the groans and see the eyes rolling at the discussion of yet another survey, this is far more important than many realize.

The number one challenge we face in bringing high-speed broadband into a rural area like WNC is money. Many of us live here because we enjoy the small town atmosphere, and lack of crowds and traffic that plague big metro areas. However, the lack of dense population makes it economically unattractive for broadband providers to come build in this area and deliver service. In most of our rural areas, it costs more to build a network than the money that can be received from service subscriptions. For this reason, one of the few ways to get high-speed broadband networks built in rural areas is to obtain grant funding from the state or federal government.

To date most federal and state broadband grant programs have relied on data collected by the FCC to determine broadband need in a given area. Unfortunately, the reporting of this data can suggest that there is greater coverage in an area than truly exists, and in many cases does not provide an accurate indication of conditions and need. To get a more realistic assessment of need, groups, counties, regions, and states are attempting to collect better information through surveys. This is one of the few ways an individual has to report the actual conditions at their home, business, or in their area.

Though LittleT, the WNC Region A Commission, and other groups have collected local survey information in the past, the state of North Carolina Broadband Information Office has undertaken the effort to create a survey with the goal of assembling a much more complete picture of need across the entire state. The advantage of a state supported and maintained survey is that it carries more weight and importance when used for federal grant applications, and it can be a primary tool for administering state grant funding.

Another nice feature about the NC Broadband Survey is that the state updates the data regularly and makes it available to cities, counties, regional commissions, and non-profit organizations like LittleT. This data can then be used to help compile eligibility and need cases for grant funding at the local level.

Please take 5 minutes to help by completing the NC Broadband Survey.
https://www.ncbroadband.gov/broadband-nc/north-carolina-broadband-survey

Letters of Support

As we work with Macon County, the Region A Commission, and partner providers to apply for state, federal, and private grant funding, we must demonstrate need and eligibility. Communities with strong local support are more successful in their efforts to obtain funding, and showing this support can go a long way towards helping to get a grant application approved.

One way a community can help do this is through letters of support and need. Such letters are powerful statements that help to reinforce the need and to endorse the funding effort.

Though it may take a few minutes of your day, please take time if possible and tell community leaders about your situation:

• What is the current internet availability and quality at your location?
• In what ways would availability of high-speed internet benefit your students or personal situation?
• Do you have the need for tele-health services?
• How is high-speed internet essential for your business to compete?

Though a personalized letter that describes your unique situation is always best, we have also provided templates for a Letter of Support.  You can use the template as a starting point, or just sign it and send it. Click on the links below to download one of the template copies.

• Letter Of Support.docx - Microsoft Word version of the template that can be downloaded and edited using Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Open Office, Apple Pages, Apple Textedit, etc.
• Letter Of Support.pdf - PDF version of the template that can be downloaded and printed.

Ideally, please send letters electronically. This can simply be done as an email, or an email with a DOCX or PDF letter attached. Letters from individuals and families are welcome. Letters from businesses and especially on business letterhead are also needed. Letters should be sent to:

Tommy Jenkins
Director of Economical Development Commission, Macon County
Macon County Broadband Committee member
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Get Involved

LittleT Broadband is a non-profit organization with no paid staff. One of the issues that we have struggled with is the lack of volunteer help. Because of this, we must prioritize where the time is spent, which means that many things including communicating with all of you falls behind. As an organization, LittleT could do more with additional volunteers.

A technical understanding of broadband is not required for you to be able to make a difference in helping to bring greater internet connectivity to Macon County. A little of your time- or even more if you have it- can help us move this project forward, faster. Working from your home is possible for many of our projects. Currently we need assistance with non-technical activities involving communication, such as a mailing list and reaching out to members of the community. People to research possible funding options including grants available would help us to plan the financing of additional phases of the project, and grant writers are always needed. Other specific skills such as website development and maintenance would be of use to LittleT as well. Once community center hotspots are available, staffing, supplies, after-school programs, public health outreach, etc. will provide other potential areas for local volunteers to assist.

We have momentum now and better internet in our community is becoming a reality with the South Macon Broadband Expansion Project under way. If you want to become involved at any level, please reach out to us via the Contact Us form on our website.