Today's Regulatory Mix: USDA Announces Broadband Funding for Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Montana and South Dakota, FCC Signs Memorandum of Understanding for 5G Networks
USDA Announces Broadband Funding for Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and South Dakota
The USDA announced over $66 million in new ReConnect broadband funding in five states.
In Idaho, USDA announced two investments. Midvale Telephone Company will use a $5.4 million ReConnect grant and $5.4 million ReConnect loan to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network to connect 236 people, 15 businesses, four farms and one fire station to high-speed broadband internet in Washington, Custer, Blaine, Valley and Idaho counties in Idaho. Direct Communications Rockland Inc. will use a $9.8 million ReConnect grant and a $9.8 million ReConnect Loan to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network to connect 2,064 people, 118 farms, 30 businesses, a post office and a fire station to high-speed broadband internet in Bear Lake, Power, Franklin and Oneida counties in Idaho.
In Montana, Project Telephone Company will use a $5.4 million ReConnect grant and $5.4 million ReConnect loan to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network to connect 2,182 people, 160 farms and 67 businesses to high-speed broadband internet in Big Horn, Stillwater and Carbon counties in Montana.
In Oregon and Nevada:
- Oregon-Idaho Utilities Inc. will use a $12.8 million ReConnect grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network to connect 612 people, 75 farms and three businesses to high-speed broadband internet in Owyhee County, Idaho; Malheur County, Oregon;
- and Humboldt and Elko counties in Nevada.
Finally, in South Dakota, the USDA announced three new investments. Valley Telecommunications Cooperative Association Inc. will use a $5.5 million grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network to connect 1,561 people, 30 businesses, 185 farms, three essential community facilities and six educational facilities to high-speed broadband internet in Beadle, Brookings, Clark, Kingsbury and Moody counties in South Dakota. Alliance Communications Cooperative Inc. will use a $1.5 million grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network to connect 1,176 people, 19 businesses and 30 farms to high-speed broadband internet in Lincoln and Turner counties in South Dakota. SDN Communications will use a $6 million grant to deploy a fixed-wireless network to connect 1,112 people, 16 businesses and three farms to high-speed broadband internet in Pennington and Lawrence counties in South Dakota.
FCC Signs Memorandum of Understanding for 5G Networks
The FCC has released the text of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which articulates common objectives and approaches between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the FCC (Participant or the Participants) to promote open, interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet and digital infrastructure, and to advance interagency coordination on network security in developing countries. Specifically, this MOU establishes a basis for ongoing dialogue and cooperation between the Participants, consistent with the National Strategy to Secure 5G and in furtherance of the goals and objectives of the USAID Digital Strategy and the FCC's 5G FAST Plan.
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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.