Assistance program
Rural Broadband Access Loans
$6.4 Million committed in FY2018–FY2019
- Agency
- Rural Utilities Service, Agriculture, Department of
- Assistance
- Direct Loans;Guaranteed/Insured Loans
- CFDA number
- 10.886
- What it does
- This program furnishes loans and loan guarantees to provide funds for the costs of construction, improvement, or acquisition of facilities and equipment needed to provide service at the broadband lending speed in eligible rural areas. In facilitating the construction of new and improved broadband infrastructure, the program will fuel long-term rural economic development and opportunities in rural America.
- Who benefits
- Residents and businesses of eligible rural areas.
- Who applies
- (a) To be eligible for a broadband loan, an applicant may be either a nonprofit or for-profit organization, and must take one of the following forms: (1) Corporation; (2) Limited liability company (LLC); (3) Cooperative or mutual organization; (4) Indian tribe or tribal organization as defined in 25 U.S.C. 5304; or (5) State or local government, including any agency, subdivision, or instrumentality thereof. (b) To be eligible for a broadband loan, the applicant must: (1) Submit a loan application which meets the requirements set forth the regulation; (2) Agree to complete the build-out of the broadband system described in the loan application within three years from the day the applicant is notified that loan funds are available. The loan application must demonstrate that all proposed construction be completed within this three year period with the exception of CPE. CPE can be funded throughout the forecast period; (3) Demonstrate an ability to furnish, improve, or extend broadband facilities to provide service at the broadband lending speed in rural areas; (4) Demonstrate an equity position equal to at least 10 percent of the amount of the loan requested in the application; and (5) Provide additional security if it is necessary to ensure financial feasibility as determined by the Administrator. An eligible entity that provides telecommunications or broadband service to at least 20 percent of the households in the United States may not receive a total amount of loans or guarantees for a fiscal year in excess of 15 percent of the funds authorized and appropriated for that fiscal year.
- Authorized by
- 7 U.S.C. § 950bb
Committed by fiscal year
Top recipients
By dollars committed.
How to read these numbers
- Committed through this program
Money committed under this assistance listing (its CFDA program), counted in the year each action happened.
- How it's paid
Most programs pay out one way — a grant, or a direct payment to individuals; the flow bar only appears when a program genuinely mixes types.
- Some recipients aren't itemized
For entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, the government reports one aggregate instead of naming tens of millions of people, so the recipient roster isn't part of the public record.
- Awards, counted once
An award count is the number of distinct awards with at least one action that year — each counted once, however many times it was amended.
- The colored bars
Every bar on this page splits by how the money moves:
Direct payments