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Rules and Regulations
Federal Register Vol. 86, No. 37
Friday, February 26, 2021

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER
contains regulatory documents having general applicability and legal effect, most of which are keyed to and codified in the Code of Federal Regulations, which is published under 50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.
The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by the Superintendent of Documents.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Rural Utilities Service 7 CFR 1740
RUS20Telecom0023
RIN 0572AC51

Rural eConnectivity Program Rural Utilities Service, USDA.
Final rule; request for comments.

AGENCY:
ACTION:

The Rural Utilities Service RUS, a Rural Development agency of the United States Department of Agriculture USDA, hereinafter referred to as RUS or the Agency, is issuing a final rule to establish the Rural eConnectivity Program. The Rural eConnectivity Program provides loans, grants, and loan/grant combinations to facilitate broadband deployment in rural areas. This rule describes the eligibility requirements, the application process, the criteria that will be used by RUS to assess applicants creditworthiness and outlines the application process. In addition, the Agency is seeking comments on the final rule.
DATES:
Effective date: This final rule is effective April 27, 2021.
Comment date: Comments due on or before April 27, 2021.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number RUS20
Telecom0023 and Regulatory Information Number RIN number 0572AC51 through https
www.regulations.gov.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the Agency name and docket number or RIN for this rulemaking. All comments received will be posted without change to https
www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
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SUMMARY:

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comments received, go to https
www.regulations.gov.
For general inquiries, contact Laurel Leverrier, Acting Assistant Administrator Telecommunications Program, Rural Utilities Service, U.S.
Department of Agriculture USDA, email: laurel.leverrier@usda.gov, telephone: 202 7209556.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Background The Agency improves the quality of life in rural America by providing investment capital for deployment of rural telecommunications infrastructure.
To achieve the goal of increasing economic opportunity in rural America, the Agency finances infrastructure that enables access to a seamless, nationwide telecommunications network. With access to the same advanced telecommunications networks as its urban counterpartsespecially those designed to accommodate distance learning, telework, and telemedicine rural America will eventually see improving educational opportunities, health care, economies, safety and security, and ultimately higher employment.
On March 23, 2018, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 Pub. L. 115,141 the 2018
Appropriations Act, which established a new broadband loan and grant pilot program, that was named the Rural eConnectivity Pilot Program. The 2018
Appropriations Act originally appropriated budget authority of $600
million to be used on an expedited basis. For fiscal year FY 2019, Congress funded an additional $550
million for the pilot through the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019
Pub. L. 1166. Once again, on December 20, 2019, Congress appropriated Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 Pub. L. 116
94 $555 million to continue the program. In addition, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act provided another $100 million in grant funding for the program.
The Rural eConnectivity Program provides loans, grants, and loan/grant combinations to facilitate broadband deployment in rural areas. In facilitating the expansion of broadband services and infrastructure, the program will fuel long-term rural economic development
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and opportunities in rural America. One of those opportunities is precision agriculture. The use of this technology requires a robust broadband connection.
The awards made under this program will bring high-speed broadband to the farms, which will allow them to increase productivity.
Since its establishment under the 2018 Act, RUS has implemented the Rural eConnectivity Program by issuing Funding Opportunity Announcements FOAs. The round one FOA was published December 14, 2018 83 FR
64315. The round two FOA was published December 12, 2019 84 FR
67913, and included a request for comments under USDAs Regulatory Reform Notice published on July 17, 2017 82 FR 32649.
The Agency received comments from six respondents on the round two FOA
through USDAs Regulatory Reform Federal Register Docket ID: USDA
201700020001. The respondents included one company, three internet/
television associations, one state board and one individual. RUS has reviewed and analyzed each response. Multiple respondents included several comments. The following is a summary of the key comments from each respondent and the Agencys responses:
Respondent One For Round 3, Respondent recommends that RUS consider redefining sufficient access to broadband to mean any rural area in which households have fixed terrestrial broadband service delivering at least 25
mpbs/3 mbps with a limited exception as detailed in comment 3. Presumably, round 3 would not take place until at least 2021, and those networks funded by a 3rd round would not be built out until several years after. This would mean areas that fall between 10/1 mbps and 25/3 mbps would have to wait several years for meaningful upgrades.
Agency response: To accommodate this request the regulation implements procedures that allow the definition of sufficient access to be updated any time an application window is opened through a notice in the Federal Register.
The Rural eConnectivity Program funded networks should not overbuild existing networks or federally supported planned networks. General Field Representatives GFR did a good job of surveying existing networks.
Contractors hired by USDA did not
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