The Biden Administration is now accepting applications for USDA’s ReConnect Program. which will make loans and grants to expand access to high-speed internet for millions of people in rural America nationwide. The Department has made $1 Billion available for the program, whose funding comes from the Bi-Partisan Infrastructure Act.
Essentially all states with significant rural areas have big Internet access gaps, with one-quarter of the U.S. rural population — 14.5 million people, having zero access to fixed broadband service at threshold speeds. West Virginia, Montana, and Wyoming have the slowest download Internet speeds of all states, and Mississippi has the least Internet access of any state.