USDA Launches Webpage to Announce Rural Broadband Projects Seeking Funds Under the Electric Program

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has launched a webpage to notify the public when the USDA has received applications from rural electric cooperatives and utilities for loans and loan guarantees in which up to 10 percent of the funds will be used to deploy broadband service. The applications pertain to the Electric Infrastructure Loan and Loan Guarantee Program. The new webpage also will list the proposed broadband service areas. The funds must be used in areas without broadband speeds of at least 25 megabits per second (Mbps) downstream and 3 Mbps upstream for both mobile and fixed service. This website supports a final rule authorized by Section 6210 of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (The 2018 Farm Bill) to allow the use of funds under select programs to help expand access to broadband services in rural America. (For additional information, see page 57077 of the Sept. 15 Federal Register.) USDA encourages applications that will support recommendations made in the Report to the President of the United States from the Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity to help improve life in rural America. Applicants are encouraged to consider projects that provide measurable results in helping rural communities build robust and sustainable economies through strategic investments in infrastructure, partnerships and innovation. Key strategies include:

• Achieving e-Connectivity for Rural America
• Developing the Rural Economy
• Harnessing Technological Innovation
• Supporting a Rural Workforce
• Improving Quality of Life