USDA Gives Out $119M MORE for Rural Broadband in Addition to Millions More Also Being Given by the FCC and States!!!

By B.N. Frank

According to telecom experts, “The Irregulators”, Americans have already paid for telecommunication services that many have still not received – including high-speed internet. The Irregulators filed a lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and their grievance was confirmed (see 1, 2, 3). Despite the legal findings, the overcharging has continued and recently led to additional government funds being allotted for telecommunication services via the Infrastructure Bill (see 1, 2, 3) and earlier in the year for the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) which also has been used fraudulently. Nevertheless, last week the FCC approved $603M MORE for internet connectivity funds and the USDA approved millions more in grants for rural broadband.

From Fierce Telecom:

USDA gives rural broadband a $119M boost

Diana Goovaerts

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) dished out more funding for rural broadband, awarding more than $119 million in loans and grants for projects in 19 states.

The money was distributed as part of a $5.2 billion investment the USDA made to boost rural infrastructure projects. The figure included $48.6 million in Community Connect grants for broadband deployments and $71.1 million in loans for telecom infrastructure rollouts.

“When we invest in rural infrastructure, we invest in the livelihoods and health of people in rural America,” USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement. “The investments we are announcing today will drive the creation of good-paying union jobs and grow the economy sustainably and equitably so that everyone gets ahead for decades to come.

Sierra Telephone Company secured the largest of the telecom loans, bagging $40.2 million for work in California. The second largest ($17.2 million) went to The Ponderosa Telephone Company, again for a project in California. Loans were also handed out for work in New Mexico and Indiana.

Grants were doled out to companies for projects spanning 17 states. Bay Springs Telephone Company received $3 million for a build in Mississippi, as did Pioneer Telephone Company for work in Oregon. Funding in the same amount was handed to iGo Technology for a deployment in Virginia; Scott County Telephone Cooperative for work in Virginia and Tennessee; and the Public Utility District 1 Lewis County for a project in the state of Washington.

The USDA’s Community Connect grant program is designed to facilitate broadband deployments in areas served with speeds of 10 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream or less. Funding recipients must deliver speeds of at least 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up.

Between 2013 and 2020, the program distributed more than $160 million. Oklahoma has received the largest amount of support from the program at more than $30 million, followed by Virginia at more than $20 million, Tennessee, North Dakota and Minnesota.

In regard to other lawsuits filed against the FCC, in August, a federal court ruled in favor of claimants that proved the agency has been failing to protect the public from unsafe levels of cell phone and wireless Wi-Fi radiation (see 1, 2). Other lawsuits have also been filed against it for allowing the deployment of unsafe 5G technology on Earth (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and in space (see 1, 2, 3).