Department of Agriculture

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing nearly $4 million to provide broadband service in unserved and underserved rural areas in Indiana. Jackson County Rural Electric Membership Corporation will use a $1.9 million loan and a $1.9 million grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network to connect 4,881 people, 198 farms and 36 businesses to high-speed broadband internet in Indiana’s Jackson and Lawrence counties.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $4.6 million to provide broadband service in unserved and underserved rural areas in Mississippi. Bay Springs Telephone Company, Inc. will use a $4.6 million grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network to connect 5,139 people, 69 businesses, 77 farms, three fire stations, two post offices, two health care facilities and five educational facilities to high-speed broadband internet in Jasper, Jones, Newton, Lauderdale and Smith counties in Mississippi.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $1.7 million to provide broadband service in unserved and underserved rural areas in southwestern South Dakota and eastern Wyoming. Golden West Telecommunications Cooperative, Inc. will use a $1.7 million grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network to connect 218 people, five businesses, 65 farms, and one essential community facility to high-speed broadband internet in Fall River and Custer counties in South Dakota and Niobrara and Weston counties in Wyoming.

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 Rural Utilities Service, Rural Business-Cooperative Service, and Rural Housing Service, agencies that comprise the Rural Development Mission Area within the United States Department of Agriculture, are issuing this final rule to establish the authority authorized by Section 6210 of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, which will assist rural families and small businesses in gaining access to broadband service by permitting recipients of a loan, grant, or loan guarantee from RD to use up to 10 percent of the amount provided to construct broadband infrastructure in areas not served by

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing more than $2 million to provide broadband service in unserved and underserved rural areas in North Carolina. This investment is part of the $100 million Congress allocated to the ReConnect Program through the CARES Act.In rural North Carolina, Randolph Telephone Membership Corporation will use a $2.3 million grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network to connect 3,333 people, 17 farms, 26 businesses and nine educational facilities to high-speed broadband internet in Moore County.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing more than $21 million to provide broadband service in unserved and underserved rural areas in North Carolina.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing nearly $3 million to provide broadband service in unserved and underserved rural areas in Missouri. This investment is part of the $100 million in grant funding made available for the ReConnect Pilot Program through the CARES Act. In rural Missouri, Big River Broadband will use a $2.9 million grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network to connect 4,839 people, 54 farms, 27 businesses, two public schools and one fire station to high-speed broadband internet in Cape Girardeau County.