The USDA has made an additional $16.4 million in awards in three states through the ReConnect rural broadband program. The USDA ReConnect grants and grant/loan combinations went to telecommunications companies serving Illinois, Oregon and South Carolina.
In all, the awards will provide FTTP networks to bring services to 11,279 people, 64 businesses, 56 farms as well as educational and community organizations.
The awards include:
Adams TelSystems Inc. will use a $1.6 million grant to deploy a network that will connect 441 people, 34 farms and four businesses in Adams County, IL.
Casco Communications will use a $6.6 million grant and a $6.6 million loan to deploy a network that will connect 5,265 people, 32 businesses, 13 farms and two public schools to high-speed broadband in Linn and Polk counties in OR.
Lancaster Telephone Company will use a $1.6 million grant to deploy a network that will connect 5,574 people, 20 businesses, 17 farms and three educational facilities to high-speed broadband internet in Lancaster and Chester counties in SC.
The three states have received awards previously in the program. In the first round, one operator each in Illinois and Oregon and two in South Carolina received grants. One previous USDA ReConnect Illinois award was for a grant/loan combination award, as was one award in South Carolina. In the second round, two companies in Illinois and one in Oregon got grants. Two Illinois organizations got grant/loan combination and one firm in South Carolina got a loan.
The awards are part of the second round of the program. The round so far has made 88 awards in 35 states and territories totaling $674,870,361. So far, the two rounds of the program have provided $1,338,069,099 in some sort of funding.
This is the second funding announcement this week. The Pembroke Telephone Company received a grant approval for $4.6 million to build an FTTP network in rural Georgia.
So you hook these people up with fiber, then what do you charge these people per month for the service. Mostly we here is $100.00 per month which rural people cannot afford! What a joke this whole rural broadband is!