Funding for rural broadband deployments included in 2002 legislation could face significant cuts. -

The USDA recently announced they'd be awarding $11.3 million in broadband community grants to 34 communities in 20 states. In January (USDA link) of this year, Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman promised $1.4 billion in loans and loan guarantees to rural telecommunications providers in the hopes of getting less populated corners of the U.S. up to speed. "Technology is key to the ability of rural businesses to compete in a global marketplace," said Veneman.

The Rural Broadband Coalition was also recently founded to help ISPs take advantage of the money available via the broadband program of the Rural Utility Service (RUS), a service of the US Department of Agriculture. Hidden within the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 is $20 million in federal funds allocated to finance broadband service in rural communities.

Now one group claims those funds are in jeopardy. Issuing a press release late last week, the Wireless Communications Association claims lawmakers are considering trimming the funds, eliminating some provisions and replacing others with incentives almost half the size. The Rural Broadband Coalition claims the WCA's assessment is incorrect (press release); the WCA plans to fire back with this as yet unreleased response tomorrow (zipped .doc file) escalating the war of words.