CHARLESTON, W.Va. – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) today delivered several letters to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from groups in West Virginia that share similar concerns regarding the ability of Frontier Communications to meet the commitments required by the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction program.
Following a letter Senator Capito sent last month, several interested parties in West Virginia expressed an interest in supporting Senator Capito by echoing similar concerns with the FCC. Senator Capito assisted in delivering letters to the FCC from seven groups, including members from both chambers of the West Virginia State Legislature and the West Virginia Broadband Enhancement Council.
The following groups provided letters to the FCC: the West Virginia Broadband Enhancement Council (WVBEH), the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, members of the West Virginia State Senate, members of the West Virginia House of Delegates Committee on Technology and Infrastructure, Generation West Virginia, the Town of Fayetteville, and the Hampshire County Commission.
“I’ve made it clear that if, during the review of Frontier’s RDOF long-form application for the West Virginia locations there are any questions or concerns about their ability to deliver on the commitment made in their short form application, that the FCC should reject their long-form application. The stakes are simply too high to provide nearly $250 million to a company that does not have the capability to deliver on the commitments made to the FCC. I’m not alone in these strong concerns, and I was glad to help assist these groups across the state in communicating these similar concerns to the FCC. West Virginia cannot afford to be let down, yet again, by the failure of Frontier to deliver on promises made to federal partners. I hope the FCC will take these concerns seriously and strongly consider them,” Senator Capito said.