Sec. 6203. Innovative broadband advancement program
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Section 603 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 ( 7 U.S.C. 950bb-2 ) is amended to read as follows: The Secretary shall establish a program to be known as the Innovative Broadband Advancement Program , under which the Secretary may provide a grant, a loan, or both to an eligible entity for the purpose of demonstrating innovative broadband technologies or methods of broadband deployment that significantly decrease the cost of broadband deployment, and provide substantially faster broadband speeds than are available, in a rural area.
The Secretary shall provide grants or loans to eligible entities for the purpose of deploying innovative broadband technologies to qualified consumers who subscribe to terrestrial broadband service in rural areas. To be eligible to obtain assistance under this subsection for a project, an entity shall— submit to the Secretary an application— that describes a terrestrial broadband demonstration project designed to decrease the cost of broadband deployment, and substantially increase broadband speed to not less than the maximum broadband project agreement requirements established under section 601(e)(4), to qualified consumers in a rural area to be served by the project; and at such time, in such manner, and containing such other information as the Secretary may require; demonstrate that the entity is able to carry out the project; and agree to complete the project build-out within 5 years after the date the assistance is first provided for the project.
In awarding assistance under this subsection, the Secretary shall give priority to proposals for projects that— involve partnerships between or among multiple entities; would provide broadband service to the greatest number of rural entities at or above the broadband requirements referred to in paragraph (2)(A)(i); the Secretary determines could be replicated in rural areas described in paragraph (2); and are located in States and territories selected by the Secretary to be diverse on the basis of geography, topography, and demographics.
In this subsection, the term qualified consumer means— an individual or member of a household who lives in a rural area; a rural small business; or an essential community facility, as defined pursuant to section 306(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act ( 7 U.S.C. 1926(a) ). In this subsection, the term rural area has the meaning provided in section 601(b)(3). The purpose of this subsection is to reduce or eliminate the costs to access satellite broadband service for remote subscribers.
In this subsection: The term eligible entity means a broadband service provider that provides Internet access directly to qualified consumers in remote areas via satellite technology. The term qualified consumer means a consumer served by an eligible entity that receives a grant under paragraph (3), who is— an individual or a member of a household at or below the poverty line (as defined in section 673(2) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, including any revision required by such section, applicable to a family of the size involved); or an essential community facility, as defined pursuant to section 306(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act ( 7 U.S.C. 1926(a) ).
The term satellite broadband equipment means user terminals, wi-fi routers, power supplies, mounts, and any other equipment necessary to connect a qualified consumer to satellite broadband service. The term Secretary means the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Administrator of the Rural Utilities Service. The term remote means a region classified within level 3 or level 4 of the frontier and remote zip code areas published by the Economic Research Service of the Department of Agriculture.
Subject to paragraph (B), the Secretary shall make grants to eligible entities for the purpose of reducing or eliminating the cost associated with the purchase or installation, or both, of satellite broadband equipment to qualified consumers to subscribe to satellite broadband service in remote areas. As a condition of receiving a grant under this subsection, an eligible entity shall— provide retail broadband service delivered via satellite technology to qualified consumers, that— enables a qualified consumer to the service to originate and receive high-quality voice, data, graphics, video; and has a latency which does not exceed 250 milliseconds; submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such other information as the Secretary may require; agree to reduce or eliminate the cost associated with the purchase, installation, or both, of satellite broadband equipment for qualified consumers; and agree to provide qualified consumers with the reduction or elimination of that cost within 1 year of the assistance being obligated to the eligible entity.
Within 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall publish a map of the remote areas of qualified consumers that do not have access to terrestrial broadband service of at least— a 25–Mbps downstream transmission capacity; and a 3–Mbps upstream transmission capacity. Within 1 year after the date of the enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit a comprehensive report to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate that shall provide the outcomes, effectiveness, and impact of the Innovative Broadband Advancement Program, including— an assessment of the broadband infrastructure funded, including the scope, scale, nature and geographic locations of each award; the broadband access and speeds achieved, including the download and upload speeds, latency, and overall network reliability; any technical or logistical challenges encountered by the eligible entities; and any recommendations for future innovative broadband deployment initiatives in rural areas.
There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2027 through 2031. .
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