The Office of Broadband Development newsletter had good heads up on federal opportunities…

Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Grants & Loan deadlines announced

RUS Community Connect Grants.  Applications due by March 13, 2017. The Community Connect grant program helps fund broadband deployment into rural communities where it is not yet economically viable for private sector providers to deliver service. Rural areas lacking existing broadband speed of at least 4 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up are eligible. More information is available on the RUS website.

RUS Rural Broadband Access Loan and Loan Guarantee.  RUS announced two application periods in 2017 for its Broadband Loan program: the first application window March 1-31, 2017 and the second application window from September 1-30, 2017. During FY 2017, loans will be made available for the construction, improvement, and acquisition of facilities and equipment to provide service at the broadband lending speed for eligible rural areas. More information on this RUS program is available on their website

USDA Community Connect Grant Program open for applications

The USDA is accepting applications for the Community Connect Grant Program for FY 2017. The grants may be used to provide broadband service in unserved, lower-income and extremely rural areas. USDA will give priority to rural areas that demonstrate the greatest need for broadband services, based on requirements that can be found at 7 CFR part 1739.

The FY 2017 application guide and sample material are available online at: https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/community-connect-grants. The minimum rate of data transmission is ten (10) megabits downstream and one (1) megabit upstream for both fixed and mobile service to the customer.

USDA Webinars Regarding the Community Connect Grant Program, Jan 24th from 1 to 3 pm EST
Register: https://livingmeeting.com/register
(If the above registration link does not work, please copy and paste
https://www.livingmeeting.com/IRS/80029
 into your browser).