USAC has just released an update on how providers that received CAF II funding are doing with their deployments. Here’s a high level summary from the USAC website…

Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II Auction, commonly called “CAF II Auction,” provides support to carriers to deliver service in areas where the incumbent price cap carrier didn’t accept CAF Phase II model-based funding and in extremely high-cost areas located within the service areas of the incumbent price cap carriers. After a reverse auction bidding process (Auction 903) completed in 2018, the FCC awarded a total of $1.49 billion over 10 years to more than 100 winning bidders to provide fixed broadband and voice services to over 700,000 locations in 45 states. Learn more.

CAF II Auction data reflecting total deployment as of December 31, 2021, and reported to USAC as of March 7, 2022, can be found here. This spreadsheet lists the total number of CAF II Auction locations deployed through the end of 2021 by Study Area Code (SAC) and state.

They have a table of how many units each provider has reached; I added a column of how many each provider was assigned/award.

As you can see some folks are rocking it; Paul Bunyan is and Midcontinent is not. That being said, the race isn’t over yet. Providers had six years to meet their obligation and we’re only into year three. There are staggered goals. (Posted below.) Especially given the labor and supply chain shortages, there are many reasons a project may not look to be on track. And network building isn’t linear, you deploy communities at a time. But all things being equal, the folks living in areas exceeding required deployments are probably happier.

Carriers must complete:

• 40 percent of deployments by the end of year 3 (2022)
• 60 percent of deployments by the end of year 4 (2023)
• 80 percent of deployments by the end of year 5 (2024)
• 100 percent of deployments by the end of year 6 (2025)