RUS, through the Telecommunications Program, make loans and loan guarantees to furnish and improve telecommunications service in rural areas.

(a) The Assistant Administrator, Telecommunications Program, directs and coordinates the rural telecommunications programs, including the distance learning and telemedicine program, and in conjunction with the Administrator and Deputy Administrator, and others, the planning and formulating of programs and activities of the agency, and performs other activities as the Administrator may prescribe from time to time.

(b) Primary point of contact with borrowers. Area offices are the primary points of contact between RUS and all telecommunications program borrowers. Each office administers the rural telecommunications program for its assigned geographical area with assistance of field representatives located in areas assigned to them.

(c) Staff offices. The Telecommunications Staff Division is responsible for engineering aspects of design, construction, and technical operation and maintenance of rural telecommunications systems and facilities, including the activities of Technical Standards Committees “A” and “B”, Telecommunications, which determine whether engineering specifications, drawings, material, and equipment are acceptable for use in RUS financed telecommunications systems. The Advanced Telecommunications Services office prepares analyses of loan making activities and the business and regulatory environment of RUS borrowers and recommends policies and procedures.

[63 FR 16085, Apr. 2, 1998; 63 FR 18307, Apr. 15, 1998. Redesignated at 71 FR 8436, Feb. 17, 2006, as amended at 84 FR 59920, Nov. 7, 2019]