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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 37 / Friday, February 26, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 6 To fund broadband facilities leased under the terms of an operating lease or an indefeasible right of use IRU agreement;
7 To fund the merger or consolidation of entities;
8 To fund costs incurred in acquiring spectrum as part of a Federal Communication Commission FCC
auction or in a secondary market acquisition. Spectrum that is part of a system acquisition may be considered;
9 To fund facilities that provide mobile services;
10 To fund facilities that provide satellite service including satellite backbone services;
11 To fund the acquisition of a system that is providing sufficient access to broadband; or 12 To refinance outstanding debt.
1740.131740.24

Reserved
Subpart CAward Requirements 1740.25 Substantially Underserved Trust Areas SUTA.

Applicants seeking assistance may request consideration under the SUTA
provisions in 7 U.S.C. 936f.
a If the Administrator determines that a community within trust land as defined in 38 U.S.C. 3765 has a high need for the benefits of the Program, the Administrator may designate the community as a substantially underserved trust area as defined in section 306F of the RE Act.
b To receive consideration under SUTA, the applicant must submit to the Agency a completed application that includes all information requested in 7
CFR part 1700, subpart D. In addition, the application must identify the discretionary authorities within subpart D that it seeks to have applied to its application. Note, however, the following:
1 Given the prohibition on funding operating expenses in the Program, requests for waiver of the equity requirements cannot be considered; and 2 Due to the statutory requirements that established the Program, waiver of the nonduplication requirements cannot be considered.

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1740.26

Public notice.

a To ensure transparency for the Program, the Agencys mapping tool will include the following information from each application, and be displayed for the public:
1 The identity of the applicant;
2 The areas to be served, including identification of the associated census blocks;
3 The type of funding requested;
4 The status of the application; and
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5 The number of households without sufficient access to broadband.
b The Agency will publish a public notice of each application requesting assistance under this part in accordance with the requirements of 7 U.S.C. 950cc.
All applicants must provide the following information, which will be posted publicly on RUS fully searchable website, in addition to the status of the application:
1 A description of the proposed broadband project;
2 A map of the PFSA;
3 The amount and type of support requested by the applicant;
4 The estimated number and proportion of service points in the proposed service territory without fixed broadband service, whether terrestrial or wireless; and 5 Any other information required of the applicant in a funding notice.
c The public notice referenced under paragraph b of this section will be published after application submission and will remain available for 45
calendar days on the Agencys web page. During this period, existing service providers are requested to submit the following information through the Agencys mapping tool:
1 The number of residential and business customers within the applicants service area currently purchasing sufficient access to broadband, the rates of data transmission being offered, and the cost of each level of broadband service charged by the existing service provider;
2 The number of residential and business customers within the applicants service area receiving voice and video services and the associated rates for these other services;
3 A map showing where the existing service providers services coincide with the applicants service area using the Agencys Mapping Tool; and 4 Test results for the service area in question for a minimum of at least the prior three months demonstrating that sufficient access to broadband is being provided. The test results shall be for different times of the day.
d The Agency may contact service providers that respond under paragraph b of this section to validate their submission, and so responding service providers should be prepared to:
1 Provide additional information supporting that the area in question has sufficient access to broadband service;
2 Have a technician on site during the field validation by RUS staff;
3 Run on site tests with RUS
personnel being present, if requested;
and 4 Provide copies of any test results that have been conducted in the last six
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months and validate the information submitted in the public notice response months.
e If no broadband service provider submits information pursuant to a pending application or if the existing provider does not provide the information requested under paragraphs b and c of this section, RUS will consider the number of providers and extent of broadband service using any other data available through reasonable efforts, including utilizing the National Telecommunications and Information Administration National Broadband Availability Map and FCC broadband availability map. That may include the agency conducting field validations so as to locate facilities in the PFSA and determine, to the extent possible, if those facilities can provide sufficient access to broadband. Notwithstanding, conclusive evidence as to the existence of sufficient access to broadband will be taken only through the public notice process. As a result, the Agency highly recommends that existing service providers in a proposed funded service territory submit responses to the public notice to ensure that their service is considered in the determination of eligibility on an application.
f The Agency will notify respondents who are existing service providers whether their challenge was successful or not and allow for an opportunity to respond.
g The information submitted by an existing service provider under paragraph c of this section will be treated as proprietary and confidential and not subject to disclosure, pursuant to 7 U.S.C. 950ccb3.
h For all applications that are approved, the following information will be made available to the public:
1 The information provided in paragraph a of this section;
2 Each annual report required under 1740.80g will be redacted to protect any proprietary information; and 3 Such other information as the Administrator of the RUS deems sufficient to allow the public to understand the assistance provided.
1740.27
reviews.

Environmental and related
a Federal Agencies are required to analyze the potential environmental impacts, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act NEPA, for Applicant projects or proposals seeking funding. Please refer to 7 CFR part 1970
for all of Rural Developments environmental policies. All Applicants must follow the requirements in 7 CFR
part 1970 and are required to complete an Environmental Questionnaire, to
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