King, Capito Press Vilsack on Broadband Speed Definitions
Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., led a letter pressing Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to update broadband speed definitions. “To keep USDA’s broadband infrastructure programs in step with current needs, Congress has delegated to USDA the ability…
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to update speed definitions within both the Broadband Loan Program and the Community Connect Program,” they told Vilsack in a letter dated Tuesday. “We therefore respectfully request that for future funding years you increase the Community Connect Program’s Minimum Broadband Service definition. Such a change will enable communities that are currently ineligible, but which nonetheless lack adequate service, to engage with [the Rural Utilities Service] and providers to improve their connectivity.” NTCA "hopes policymakers will join us in calling for updated broadband speed definitions not only in the context of USDA programs, but also for comparable speeds -- and sufficient funding to enable them -- through the high-cost USF program that is so important to sustain rural network investments and enable adoption and ongoing use of broadband by rural consumers," CEO Shirley Bloomfield said Wednesday. She said USDA programs and the USF "often work in concert, with USDA loans and grants helping to finance the construction of many rural networks, and USF helping to make the business case for such investments while keeping user rates affordable over time."