Broadband

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‘The internet is no longer a luxury’: $667M from USDA for rural broadband

BY: - August 21, 2023

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will spend another $667 million on rural broadband loans and grants, the department said Monday, marking the fourth round of Biden administration funding under a program that the 2021 infrastructure law invigorated. Nearly three-quarters of the funding, $493 million, will go toward grants, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on a […]

Workers lay fiber-optic cable at a broadband expansion site near Colton in May 2023. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

South Dakota to receive $207 million from new Biden broadband plan

BY: - June 26, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Monday announced $42.45 billion to connect all Americans to high-speed broadband internet by the end of the decade, likening the ambitious goal to FDR’s New Deal-era rural electrification program that brought the then-modern technology to farms and rural areas across the United States. The funding includes about $207 million […]

Workers lay fiber-optic cable at a broadband expansion site near Colton in May 2023. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Inflation drives up cost of broadband internet projects

BY: - June 5, 2023

COLTON — Inflation has taken a toll on ambitious state and national plans for expanding access to high-speed internet service, causing funding for the projects to lose purchasing power.  And while proponents say it’s time to double down on support for the projects, a state representative sees it as an opportunity to rein in the […]

(USDA Photo by Lance Cheung)

$17 million in federal funding headed to Cheyenne River telecom for rural broadband

BY: - October 27, 2022

Hundreds of people on the Cheyenne River and Standing Rock reservations will soon have high-speed internet access thanks to a $17 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The grant award to the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Telephone Authority represents the largest amount offered anywhere in South Dakota through the USDA’s ReConnect Program.  The […]