The U.S. Treasury has approved $149 million in Capital Projects Fund money to go toward the cost of rural broadband deployments in Oregon. A U.S. Treasury press release also references a figure of $156.7 million because $7.7 million of the total funding will go toward administrative expenses.
The funding will be used to connect over 17,000 homes in the state. The state will make the awards through a Broadband Infrastructure program.
Eligible locations are those lacking 100/20 Mbps service, with those lacking 10/1 Mbps service having priority. Network operators receiving funding are expected to deploy service supporting symmetrical 100 Mbps speeds.
Oregon is one of the last states to have its CPF allotment approved. That may have occurred because until recently, the state had a law on the books that defined unserved and underserved areas to include those lacking service at speeds of 10/1 Mbps and 25/3 Mbps, respectively. Those definitions do not match those that the U.S. Treasury uses.
When Telecompetitor spoke to Oregon broadband director Nick Batz this summer, he explained that he worked closely with legislators to get the statute changed so that it would not negatively impact the state’s funding opportunities.
The Capital Projects Fund has a total budget of $10 billion, and states have flexibility in how they use the funding. Oregon opted to use its total CPF allotment for broadband deployments.
According to the U.S. Treasury press release, over $8.4 billion has now been awarded.
Additional information about Oregon broadband, including links to state funding resources, Telecompetitor coverage and more, can be found on the Broadband Nation web page for Oregon.
