HINESVILLE, Georgia, April 6, 2006 - Three loans totaling $43.7 million were announced today by Thomas Dorr, Agriculture Under Secretary for Rural Development, to provide broadband service to an estimated 41,000 rural households and businesses in four states.

"Broadband service provides an economic engine for rural communities, which opens the door for business development, improved health care and additional educational opportunities," Dorr said as he introduced a new USDA housing voucher program at the Wedgewood Apartments here today. "The infrastructure built with these funds is an investment in the future of these rural communities."

The loans announced today were made to Broadband South, which will serve 64 communities in southeastern Georgia and Florida; Jaguar Communications, Inc., to serve eight counties in Minnesota; and to Mid-Hudson Cablevision in New York State to bring improved and advanced service to seven rural communities.

The Rural Development Broadband Access loan program authorizes USDA Rural Development to make loans to deploy broadband service to communities with a population of 20,000 or less, with first priority going to communities without broadband service. The loans are low interest and allow for the technology to be market driven.

The loan to Broadband South, LLC, whose headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia, is for $33.8 million. This project will build out broadband in southeast Georgia, the Florida Panhandle and northern Florida. Approximately 35,000 homes lie within the proposed service area. Over the 5-year build-out period, some 24,000 subscribers and 2,700 business subscribers are projected to receive the high speed telecommunications service. Sixty four rural communities will be served by this project.

Jaguar Communications, Inc., of Owatonna, Minnesota will receive a loan of $4.6 million to construct an eight county system in southeast Minnesota utilizing wireless, digital subscriber lines (DSL) and Fiber to the Home technology. When the system is completed, it will provide varying degrees of voice, data and video broadband service to more than six thousand residential and business customers. Jaguar Communications is a community backed company, with stockholders made up of small business owners, farmers, college professors and other small investors from the area.

Mid-Hudson Cablevision, Inc., headquartered in Catskill, New York, will receive a loan of $5.2 million to provide advances communications services to over 7 thousand subscribers. The loan will be used to provide data, video, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), as well as upgrade existing cable TV systems in Ashland, Greenville, Prattsville, and Westerlo. The funds will also be used to expand existing service to a small portion of the town of Taghkanic and acquire and upgrade the systems in Durham and Rensselaerville.

The Rural Development Broadband Access Program has made 56 loans for more than $868 million since the program was created in 2002.

USDA Rural Development's mission is to deliver programs in a way that will support increasing economic opportunity and improve the quality of life of rural residents. As a venture capital entity, Rural Development has invested over $63 billion since the beginning of the Bush Administration to provide equity and technical assistance to finance and foster growth in homeownership, business development, and critical community and technology infrastructure. As a result, over 1.1 million jobs have been created or saved through these investments. Further information on rural programs is available at a local USDA Rural Development office or by visiting USDA's web site at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov.