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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) has begun accepting RUS broadband loan applications for fiscal year 2018. For years, the program has provided low-interest loans for broadband network construction and is currently operating based on parameters established in the 2014 Farm Bill. There are some changes to the RUS broadband loan application process effective immediately, however.

Cox Communications and US Ignite designated Las Vegas as the newest US Ignite Smart Gigabit Community (SGC). US Ignite’s SGC program is creating “living lab” environments for the next generation of gigabit applications. Las Vegas is the 25th community designated as an SGC. The designation is designed to facilitate collaboration among US Ignite, universities, municipalities, community anchor institutions like hospitals and schools, nonprofits, network carriers and ISPs.

In separate announcements, AT&T and Verizon provided launch details for core networks to support mobile broadband service for public safety users. A key capability of both the AT&T and Verizon public safety offerings is to prioritize public safety network traffic and, where necessary, to pre-empt regular commercial traffic – a capability that could be important in the case of a major emergency. 

North Dakota is somewhat of an anomaly in today’s broadband world, where so many lack access to high quality broadband. The largely rural state has some of the best, if not the best, state-wide fiber connectivity in the country. It’s about to get better. Dakota Carrier Network (DCN), a regional fiber network operator owned by several independent telcos, has committed to enable a 100 Gig backbone for the network that serves schools, colleges, and government agencies by 2019.

New rural broadband funding is included in the $1.3 trillion congressional omnibus bill. The bill calls for an additional $600 million to be distributed through the Rural Utilities Service (RUS). The funding authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to create a pilot program within RUS that distributes the new funding in the form of grants and loans. There are details to be worked out, but the authorization calls for “expedited” delivery of the program. A few conditions were mandated by the funding bill. They include: