(a) A service area may be eligible for a broadband loan if all of the following are true:
(1) The service area is completely contained within a rural area;
(2) At least 25 percent of the households in the service area are underserved households;
(3) No part of the service area has three or more incumbent service providers;
(4) No part of the funded service area overlaps with the service area of current RUS borrowers and grantees;
(5) No part of the funded service area is included in a pending application before RUS seeking funding to provide broadband service. If two or more applications are submitted for the same service area, a lending decision must be made on the application that was submitted to the Agency first before a lending decision can be made on the other application(s).
(b) Multiple service areas may be included in a single broadband loan application. Non-contiguous areas are considered separate service areas and must be treated separately for the purpose of determining service area eligibility. If non-contiguous areas within an application are determined to be ineligible, the Agency may pursuant to this regulation consider the remaining areas in the application. If an applicant fails to respond to agency requests for additional information or modifications to remove ineligible areas, the application may be returned and the application will lose its place in the processing queue.