December 13, 2024
USAC Launches New CAF State Map
USAC has launched a new online map that provides a big-picture, state-level view of the impact of the Connect America Fund (CAF) on broadband expansion in rural America, as well as a new online search tool that displays details about CAF-supported broadband deployment by speed tier.
The new map and tool are the latest additions to a series of online applications that provide public access to broadband deployment and payment information for the Connect America Fund as part of USAC’s Open Data initiative, which makes data about the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Universal Service Fund (USF) available and easily accessible to the general public.
The new Connect America Fund State Map (CAF State Map) displays total broadband deployment obligations by location count, total cumulative deployment reported so far by location count and total cumulative funding paid out to date – all on a state-by-state basis – by aggregating data for all carriers participating in the Connect America Fund in each state. Read the full announcement here.
November 14, 2024
Annual HUBB Filing Due March 3, 2025
The annual HUBB filing deadline is coming soon. Carriers participating in modernized Connect America Fund (CAF) programs with defined fixed broadband buildout obligations have until March 3, 2025, to file and certify deployment data with USAC’s High Cost Universal Broadband (HUBB) portal showing where they built out mass-market, high-speed Internet service in calendar year 2024 or certify that they have “no locations to upload.”
This includes carriers participating in the Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model (Enhanced ACAM) program, which will be filing in the HUBB for the first time and will be reporting deployment data using the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric (Fabric), a single, standardized dataset of all locations in the U.S. where fixed broadband access service is available or could be installed. (See details below).
Please join USAC at 2 p.m. ET on Thurs., Jan. 9, 2025, for a webinar overview of the HUBB reporting requirements, a walk-through of the system and an explanation of the HUBB filing process for Enhanced ACAM carriers. Register here.
Read the full announcement here.
October 29, 2024
Performance Measures System Open to Generate New Random Samples
Carriers participating in the Alternative Connect America Cost Model (Original ACAM), Revised Alternative Connect America Cost Model (Revised ACAM), Rural Broadband Experiments (RBE) and Alaska Plan fundsmay now log into the USAC Performance Measures Module (PMM) to generate new random samples of subscriber locations for ongoing quarterly network speed and latency testing next year.
Original and Revised ACAM, RBE and Alaska Plan carriers are nearing the end of their fourth full year of network performance measures testing mandated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) – and are now in their eighth and final quarter of testing with their current random samples of CAF-supported broadband locations with active subscribers – and must therefore obtain new samples for quarterly testing that starts in the first quarter of 2025. The FCC requires carriers to obtain new random samples of subscriber locations after two years of network testing.
USAC strongly encourages carriers to begin this process as soon as possible – starting by updating their broadband deployment data in the High Cost Universal Broadband (HUBB) portal to be as complete and accurate as possible and then uploading their subscriber location data into the PMM and generating new samples.
Please join USAC from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EST on Thurs., Dec. 12, 2024, for a webinar overview of the new sample generation process for performance measures testing. Register here. Read the full announcement here.
October 16, 2024
USAC Encourages Carriers to Update HUBB Data to Prepare for New PMM Sample Generation
USAC encourages all carriers participating in the Alternative Connect America Cost Model (Original ACAM), Revised Alternative Connect America Cost Model (Revised ACAM), Rural Broadband Experiments (RBE) and Alaska Plan programs to be sure that their broadband deployment data in the High Cost Universal Broadband (HUBB) portal – showing where they offer broadband service with Connect America Fund (CAF) support – is as up-to-date, complete and accurate as possible in order to prepare for the generation of new random samples of active subscriber locations for ongoing quarterly network speed and latency testing in 2025.
Original and Revised ACAM, RBE and Alaska Plan carriers are nearing the end of their fourth full year of network performance measures testing mandated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) – and are now in their eighth and final quarter of testing with their current random samples of CAF-supported broadband locations with active subscribers – and must therefore obtain new samples for quarterly testing that starts in the first quarter of 2025. The FCC requires carriers to obtain new random samples of subscriber locations after two years of network testing.
USAC will inform Original and Revised ACAM, RBE and Alaska Plan carriers when it is ready to generate new random samples. In the meantime, carriers should update their broadband build-out data in the HUBB as soon as possible to add any new locations that they have built out but not yet submitted to the system. While carriers have until March 3, 2025, to report deployment completed in 2024 in the HUBB, USAC encourages carriers to file their 2024 deployments as soon as possible so that those locations can potentially be included in their new random samples for testing starting in the first quarter of next year.
In addition, carriers should update speed tier data for existing locations already in the HUBB by Oct. 24, 2024, if they want those network upgrades reflected in their new random samples. Carriers should also begin the process of determining which locations reported in the HUBB have active subscribers for potential inclusion in the new samples since this process can take time. Read the full announcement here.
