12 2 STA T . 12 0 1 PUBLIC LA W 110 – 2 34—M A Y 22 , 200 8ofm o rethan20p er c ent of the b roa d band s er vi ce mar k etinar u ra l area to submit to the S ecretar y a market survey .‘ ‘ ( ii )LES S THAN20P E RC ENT. —T he Secretary may not re q uire an entity that proposes to have a subscriber pro j ection of less than 20 percent of the broadband service market in a rural area to submit to the Sec - retary a market survey. ‘‘( 4 ) STATE AN DLO CAL G O V ERN M ENTS AND I NDIAN TRI B ES.— Subject to para g raph ( 1 ) , a State or local government (including any agency, subdivision, or instrumentality thereof (including consortia thereof)) and an I ndian tribe shall be eligible for a loan or loan guarantee under this section to provide broadband services to a rural area. ‘‘( 5 ) N OTICE RE QU IREMENT.—The Secretary shall publish a notice of each application for a loan or loan guarantee under this section describing the application, including— ‘‘( A ) the identity of the applicant
‘‘( B ) each area proposed to be served by the applicant; and ‘‘( C ) the estimated number of households w ithout terrestrial-based broadband service in those areas. ‘‘( 6 ) P APER W OR K REDUCTION.—The Secretary shall take steps to reduce, to the ma x imum extent practicable, the cost and paperwork associated with applying for a loan or loan guarantee under this section by first-time applicants (particu- larly first-time applicants who are small and start-up broadband service providers), including by providing for a new application that maintains the ability of the Secretary to make an analysis of the risk associated with the loan involved. ‘‘( 7 ) PREAPPLICATION PROCESS.—The Secretary shall estab- lish a process under which a prospective applicant may seek a determination of area eligibility prior to preparing a loan application under this section. ‘‘(e) BROADBAND SERVICE.— ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, from time to time as advances in technology warrant, review and recommend modifications of rate-of-data transmission criteria for purposes of the identification of broadband service technologies under subsection (b)(1). ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION.—The Secretary shall not establish requirements for bandwidth or speed that have the effect of precluding the use of evolving technologies appropriate for rural areas. ‘‘(f) TECHNOLOGICAL NEUTRALIT Y .— F or purposes of determining whether to make a loan or loan guarantee for a project under this section, the Secretary shall use criteria that are technologically neutral. ‘‘(g) TERMS AND CONDITIONS F OR LOANS AND LOAN G UARAN- TEES.— ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a loan or loan guarantee under this section shall— ‘‘(A) bear interest at an annual rate of, as determined by the Secretary— ‘‘(i) in the case of a direct loan, a rate equivalent to— Publicat i on.
�
