This week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released the details for a newly established $100 million Rural Broadband Experiments (RBE) program. Eligible telecommunication services providers will compete for broadband infrastructure development funding in one of three categories that have been broadly identified as “high-cost” investment regions throughout much of the country’s rural and remote areas. The first “experiment” aims to test the bidding process on a small scale while building out rural broadband networks, which will provide the FCC an opportunity to evaluate the interest and ability to build higher performance networks in areas that are considered un-served and underserved in terms of access and network connection speeds. The RBE program is largely considered to be the precursor to a much larger, potentially multi-billion dollar broadband infrastructure expansion effort to happen next year as part of the Obama Administration’s Connect America initiative. Applications are due by Tuesday, October 14, 2014. Additional information on the RBE program can be accessed here.
RCRC has received several letters from a variety of telecommunication service providers from across the state expressing interest to expand rural broadband infrastructure throughout various communities within RCRC member counties.