USDA Invests $55.3 Million in Broadband for Rural Kentucky and Tennessee Communities

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has invested $55.3 million in four, high-speed broadband infrastructure projects in rural Kentucky. These projects will create or improve rural e-Connectivity for more than 12,250 rural households and nearly 100 farms and businesses across Kentucky and northern Tennessee. USDA announced the following investments in rural Kentucky:

• Ballard Rural Telephone Cooperative Corporation will use a $2.4 million ReConnect Program grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network in rural McCracken County. The funded service areas include 578 households and a critical community facility spread over 20 square miles.
• Duo County Telephone Cooperative Corporation Inc. will use an $18.7 million ReConnect Program grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network in rural Adair, Cumberland and Russell counties. The funded service areas include almost 3,650 households spread over 45 square miles.
• Gibson Electric Membership Corporation will use a $32 million ReConnect Program loan to deploy an FTTP network in rural Fulton, Graves and Hickman counties (KY) and in Dyer, Lake, Obion and Weakley counties (TN). The funded service areas include almost 7,400 households spread over 1,056 square miles.
• Thacker-Grigsby Telephone Company Inc. will use a $2.3 million ReConnect Program grant to deploy an FTTP network in rural Breathitt County. The funded service area includes 637 households spread over 109 square miles.