USDA Announces Funding to Improve Broadband Service for Rural Customers in Four States

Agriculture Secretary Vilsack announced loans to help finance the construction of broadband networks in rural Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon and South Dakota. The funding will provide almost $40 million from the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) to install fiber networks to improve telecommunications capability in the three recipients' service areas.

The following recipients have been selected to receive telecommunications loan financing:

• Keystone-Farmers Cooperative Telephone Company will receive a $7.6 million loan to upgrade its plant and complete a Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to help meet the current and future data needs of its customers in Benton and Tama counties.
• Colton Telephone Company will receive a $7.3 million loan to complete an FTTP network to provide enhanced broadband services for its customers.
• Interstate Telecommunications Company, Inc. will receive a $24.9 million loan to upgrade its plant and complete an FTTP network to provide enhanced broadband services for its customers.