Mercury Broadband Defaults on More RDOF Locations

WASHINGTON,  Nov. 19, 2024 – Using federal broadband subsidies has increasingly become too difficult for at least one regional Internet Service Provider.

Mercury Broadband, based in Kansas City, Mo., defaulted on 173 Census Block Groups in two states under the $20 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund in a Monday filing with the FCC. The company defaulted on 160 CBGs in Michigan and 13 CBGs in Indiana.

Mercury’s latest default comes on the heels of two other defaults in late October and early November. To date, Mercury has defaulted on more than 1,000 of its CBGs won at the RDOF reverse auction in 2020.

“Rising costs and competitive encroachment have rendered deployment to many of these RDOF CBGs economically unviable and ultimately unachievable,” Mercury CFO AJ Long said in a Nov. 18 letter to the FCC.

Mercury provides fiber and wireless connectivity solutions in 5 states.

Mercury asserted that, by defaulting on its RDOF CBGs, rural locations could become eligible for other federal broadband funding programs like the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.

The company reserved the right to seek relief from any penalties imposed by the FCC, though it recognized that it would no longer be eligible for RDOF support in the defaulted areas.