Groups Seek 100 Mbps Service Minimum Rule for ReConnect in Farm Bill

program money, “the level specified” in the program’s “oversubscribed third round.” The “overwhelming demand for ReConnect funding even as applicants have been expected to perform at high levels proves that setting a high standard for network and service capabilities does not deter applicants whatsoever, but rather demonstrates a surplus of interest by providers willing and able to deliver better broadband in rural America that will rival what is available to urban users,” NTCA and the other groups said in a letter to Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., House Agriculture Chairman Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., and their ranking members. Using “a lesser standard would represent an inefficient step backwards, flying in the face of the substantial demand demonstrated in the most recent round of ReConnect and failing the rural communities that need broadband capable of keeping pace with user demand for decades to come. Policies that encourage sustainable networks that meet the needs of consumers now and into the future will be most efficient in responding to consumer demand over the lives of those networks, particularly when compared to short-term solutions that are likely to be quickly outpaced by technological evolution and consumer demands and require substantial re-investment relatively soon thereafter.”