USDA Announces $120 Million in Broadband Infrastructure Loans and Grants
Money comes from the Telecommunications Infrastructure Loans and Community Connect programs.
Ahmad Hathout
WASHINGTON, December 16, 2021 – The Agriculture Department announced Thursday the recipients of $119.7 million in broadband grants and loans.
The money comes from two rural development programs under the department, with the telecom loans program disbursing $71.1 million to four recipients and $48.6 million to 23 recipients from the Community Connect grants program.
Under the Community Connect program, eligible areas are those that do not have access to speeds of at least 10 Megabits per second download and 1 Mbps upload. Eligible criteria under the Telecommunications Infrastructure Loans and Loan Guarantees program include rural towns with a population of 5,000 or less without telecommunications networks.
In the press release, the department used the example of how Interior Telephone Company in Alaska will use a $2.6-million grant: to build a 19-mile fiber-to-the-premises network.
The states represented are California, New Mexico, Indiana, Alaska, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Arizona, Georgia, Oklahoma, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington.
The grantees are Ponderosa Telephone, Sierra Telephone Company, Mescalero Apache Telecom, Geetingsville Tele Co., Interior Telephone Company, Byte Networking, Sharon Telephone, Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa, Wabash Telephone Coop., Jo-Carroll Energy, West Kentucky Rural Telephone Coop Corp., Star Telephone Company, Easton Utilities Commission, Consolidated Telephone Company, Bay Springs Telephone Company Inc., Atlantic Telephone Membership Corp., Star Telephone Membership Corp., NTUA Wireless, Pine Telephone Company, Pine Cellular Phones, Pioneer Telephone Coop., Ben Lomand Communications LLC, iGo Technology Inc., Pembroke Telephone Cooperative, Scott County Telephone Coop., Whidbey Telephone Company, and Public Utility District 1 Lewis County.
“The investments we are announcing today will drive the creation of good-paying union jobs and grow the economy sustainably and equitably so that everyone gets ahead for decades to come,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
The chunk of money is part of a larger pie worth $5.2 billion, the rest of which goes to other infrastructure programs including electric, water and environment.
In August, the department announced $167 million to improve broadband infrastructure in 12 states from its ReConnect Program.
