I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2665 
To direct the Federal Communications Commission to establish a program 
to make grants to States for the deployment of broadband service in 
underserved areas by small business broadband providers, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 19, 2021 
Mr. VAN DREW introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To direct the Federal Communications Commission to estab-
lish a program to make grants to States for the deploy-
ment of broadband service in underserved areas by small 
business broadband providers, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Local Telecom Expan-
sion Act of 2021’’. 
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SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS BROADBAND PROVIDER GRANT 
PROGRAM. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Commission shall estab-
lish a program to make grants on a competitive basis to 
States for the deployment of broadband service in under-
served areas by small business broadband providers. 
(b) ELIGIBILITY OF STATES.—The Commission may 
only award a grant under this section to a State that— 
(1) meets such eligibility criteria as the Com-
mission may establish; and 
(2) submits an application at such time, in such 
form, and with such information and assurances as 
the Commission may require. 
(c) SUBGRANTS TO SMALL BUSINESS BROADBAND 
PROVIDERS.—A State that receives a grant under this sec-
tion shall use the grant funds to make subgrants to small 
business broadband providers to enable such providers to 
deploy broadband service in underserved areas in the 
State. 
(d) USE OF SUBGRANT FUNDS.—A small business 
broadband provider that receives a subgrant from a State 
under subsection (c) shall use the subgrant funds to de-
ploy, in underserved areas in the State, broadband service 
with— 
(1) a download speed of at least 25 megabits 
per second; 
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(2) an upload speed of at least 10 megabits per 
second; and 
(3) latency that is sufficiently low to allow real- 
time, interactive applications. 
(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) 
BROADBAND
SERVICE.—The 
term 
‘‘broadband service’’ means broadband internet ac-
cess service (as defined in section 8.1(b) of title 47, 
Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regu-
lation)). 
(2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 
means the Federal Communications Commission. 
(3) SMALL BUSINESS BROADBAND PROVIDER.— 
The term ‘‘small business broadband provider’’ 
means a provider of broadband service that is a 
small business concern (as defined under section 3 
of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632)). 
(4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each 
State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 
each commonwealth, territory, or possession of the 
United States, and each federally recognized Indian 
Tribe. 
(5) UNDERSERVED AREA.—The term ‘‘under-
served area’’ means an area in which only 1 provider 
of broadband service offers broadband service with— 
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(A) a download speed of at least 25 mega-
bits per second and not more than 99 megabits 
per second; 
(B) an upload speed of at least 10 mega-
bits per second; and 
(C) latency that is sufficiently low to allow 
real-time, interactive applications. 
Æ 
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