A bill, the Serving Rural America Act (H.R. 6456), has been introduced in the House of Representatives, by Reps. Rob Wittman (R-VA) and Bill Johnson (R-OH), that proposes to create a broadband grant program to expand broadband service to unserved areas of America. This five-year, $500 million grant program, administered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission), would prioritize funding to areas currently lacking service of at least 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream. Each designated unserved area would be limited to one funded provider who would coordinate their efforts to expand broadband coverage with local authorities. H.R. 6456 also proposes to improve broadband mapping procedures through more crowd sourcing and site specific testing.
