Some terms used in OAR Chapter 123, division 47 are defined in
Procedural Rules, OAR Chapter 123, division 1 and herein. In addition, as used
in this division of administrative rules, unless the context requires
otherwise, the following definitions apply:
(1) "Broadband Program" means a financial
assistance program that supports broadband access, affordability, or broadband
adoption projects in the form of loans or grants.
(2) "Broadband Service Infrastructure
Programs" means a Broadband Program type that permits financial assistance to
be used for the costs of physical broadband infrastructure.
(3) "Financing contract" is a binding
agreement between the Department and an award recipient to receive a financial
assistance award through a grant and/or loan.
(4) "Physical broadband infrastructure" means
networks of deployed telecommunications equipment and technologies necessary to
provide broadband services and includes cable, fiber optics, wiring, or other
permanent infrastructure, including wireless infrastructure that is capable of
providing internet connections to serve individual locations.
(5) "Program Handbook" is a regularly updated
and publicly posted document that provides up-to-date information on a
Broadband Program's characteristics, including but not limited to application
instructions, criteria for applications and for determining the eligibility of
applicants and proposed projects for a loan or grant, criteria for the
department to evaluate competitive applications and for awarding a loan or
grant, performance requirements, financial assistance disbursement processes,
reporting requirements, applicable federal requirements, and other program
information. If a Broadband Program has a Program Handbook, the handbook will
be published and adopted by the Department as a rule.
