USDA Awards $1.9M Loan to Eagle Telephone System for Keating Valley Fiber

USDA Rural Development has provided a $1.9 million loan to Eagle Telephone System to expand high-speed fiber internet to rural homes and businesses in Keating Valley, Baker County, Oregon, State Director Jim Carmack announced. The award is described as federal support "to connect rural communities," according to the announcement materials that named Carmack as the announcer.

The loan amount, recipient and geographic target are explicit: $1.9 million to Eagle Telephone System for Keating Valley, Baker County. The original announcement text available to reporters is truncated after the phrase "This infrastructure upgrade aims to," and it does not specify how many households or businesses will be served, miles of fiber to be built, expected service speeds, or a construction timetable.

Separately, USDA-associated materials show Border to Border Communications will use a $5 million ReConnect grant and a $5 million ReConnect loan to deploy a Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network. That package — a $5 million grant plus a $5 million loan — totals $10 million in ReConnect funding tied to an FTTP deployment, but the supplied material does not identify the specific communities or counties Border to Border Communications will serve, nor does it link the Border to Border award to the Eagle Telephone System loan.

Key program and personnel details available now are limited to agency names, funding instruments, and amounts: USDA Rural Development supplied the $1.9 million loan to Eagle Telephone System; State Director Jim Carmack announced the loan; and Border to Border Communications will use a $5 million ReConnect grant plus a $5 million ReConnect loan for FTTP. The materials supplied do not include dates of award, specific USDA loan program names, loan terms (interest rate or repayment schedule), or project scopes for either award.

Missing project specifics that Baker County leaders and businesses are likely to want immediately include: the award date and approval date for the $1.9 million loan; the number of homes and businesses in Keating Valley to be connected; miles of fiber to be installed; expected download and upload speeds; construction start and completion dates; whether additional federal, state or private matching funds are committed; and contact points at Eagle Telephone System and at Jim Carmack’s office for further information.

Reporters will seek follow-up from USDA Rural Development’s state office for full press releases and award documentation, from Eagle Telephone System for project maps and a company point of contact, and from Border to Border Communications to confirm the geographic reach of the $5 million grant and $5 million loan and to supply timelines and technical specifications. Those documents are necessary to quantify economic and market implications for Keating Valley and broader Baker County.

Taken together, the explicit facts show two separate USDA-related broadband investments on the record today: a $1.9 million loan to Eagle Telephone System for Keating Valley and a $10 million ReConnect package to Border to Border Communications for FTTP. Until USDA or the recipients provide scope and schedule details, the precise local economic impact and service rollout timeline for Baker County remain to be documented.