December 24, 2020 Original photo by Flickr user Richard Drdul Note: This is part three in an ongoing series. Be sure to check out the other posts: Part 1: Fiber to the Clubhouse: Pai Subsidizes Broadband for the Rich Part 2: Broadband Boondoggle: Ajit Pai's $886M Gift to Elon Musk Part 4: Ajit Pai's Broadband Legacy: Haste and Waste Part 5: Plan Fail: How Pai Imperiled a Rural Town's Fiber Network Chairman Ajit Pai wants the world to think that the broadband-subsidies auction the FCC just concluded is a crowning achievement of his four years heading the agency. The $9.2-billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) is Pai’s twist on the longstanding Universal Service Fund (USF), and while the money hasn’t gone out the door the auction bidding wrapped up earlier this month.