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When CenturyLink (recently rebranded as Lumen) was asked whether it will use any of the funds to develop broadband in DeSoto County, Lumen’s East Public Relations Manager Danielle Spears responded via email. “As a disciplined company, we only pursued Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) obligations where we could deliver great broadband service economically,” Spears wrote. “We look forward to using fiber to deliver gigabit service to many currently unserved households across America via RDOF. We continue to focus on delivering the services our customers want across our world-class network.” Spears went on to write that the company will not receive any of the funds until 2022, and she shared a map created by Cooperative Network Services that indicates the locations in Florida where CenturyLink plans to develop rural broadband. She said that the FCC’s auction rule against prohibited communications remains in effect, so Lumen was unable comment further. ....