USDA Broadband Grants
The second announcement is a $11 million investment in three, high-speed broadband infrastructure projects that will create or improve rural e-Connectivity for more than 1,395 rural households and nearly 120 businesses throughout several counties in Minnesota and northern Iowa. Specifically:
- Harmony Telephone Company will use a $2.7 million ReConnect Program loan and a $2.7 million ReConnect Program grant to construct a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network to connect 577 households, a health care center and a critical community facility spread over 143 square miles in several counties bordering southern Minnesota and northern Iowa.
- Osage Municipal Utilities (OMU) in northern Iowa will use a $397,749 ReConnect Program grant to provide broadband service to underserved households, farms and businesses in Mitchell County. This will be accomplished by directly accessing a fiber trunk line that runs through the heart of Mitchell, Iowa, and up to the border of Minnesota, allowing OMU to increase its service area bandwidth. The funded service area includes 151 households spread over 20 square miles.
- Consolidated Telephone Company (CTC) will use a $5.2 million ReConnect Program grant to construct a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network of up to one gigabit of symmetrical high-speed internet to nearly 700 homes and public facilities in portions of Cherry and Great Scott townships in Minnesota’s famed ‘Iron Range.’ CTC will leverage existing middle-mile infrastructure, in partnership with Northeast Service Cooperative, and require only an additional 157.1 miles of new FTTP construction. The funded service area includes 667 households, two educational facilities and two critical community facilities in St. Louis County.
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The Regulatory Mix Today: USDA Broadband Grants, FCC Z-Axis Comment and Effective Dates
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FCC Z-Axis Comment and Effective Dates
The FCC announced that its order adopting rules for transmitting vertical, or “z-axis,” location information with indoor wireless 911 calls and seeking comment on narrowing the z-axis location accuracy metric was published in the Federal Register. Accordingly, the rules adopted in the order will take effect on March 16, 2020, with the exception of rules containing information collection requirements that must be approved by the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act. Virtually all of the newly adopted rules contain information collection requirements. The compliance date for the information collections will be announced after the FCC receives OMB approval.
Comments pertaining to the Further Notice must be filed on or before February 18, 2020, and reply comments must be filed on or before March 16, 2020. Inteserra Briefing Service subscribers see Briefing dated 1/7/20
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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.
