USDA $600 Million Rural Broadband Pilot Will Include Loan/ Grant Combinations

Individual service providers will be able to apply for loans, grants or a combination of the two in the upcoming $600 million US Department of Agriculture rural broadband pilot program, said Jannine Miller, senior advisor for rural infrastructure for the USDA. Traditionally, USDA has administered separate broadband loan and grant programs and has not had “the ability to package a loan and grant together – now we do with the rural broadband pilot program,” said Miller. Miller noted that the USDA offers both grants and loans to support rural water infrastructure, which enables providers to deploy infrastructure and make prices to consumers affordable. The USDA rural broadband pilot was created in the federal budget adopted earlier in 2018 and targets rural areas where no more than 15% of residents can get broadband at speeds of 10 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream.