Small telecommunications companies will have an opportunity in July to compete for $2 billion to expand access to broadband internet in rural areas over the next decade, the Federal Communications Commission announced.

Phase II of the Connect America Fund targets areas that weren’t covered by the major telecommunications providers, FCC spokesman Will Wigfield said.

The new program will be open to a wider variety of providers and technologies, including rural electric cooperatives, fixed wireless broadband companies and satellite.

In some states, there are large unserved rural areas because Verizon did not accept money that was offered through the Connect America Fund, Wigfield said.

In states like Oregon, the phase II program will cover high-cost areas that weren’t eligible for funding. That includes 14,000 homes and businesses in Oregon.

In Central Oregon, hundreds of locations do not have broadband service, defined as 10 megabits per second of download and 1 Mbps of upload, according to the FCC.

Crook County has 241 unserved locations; Deschutes County has 391 locations; Jefferson County has 457.

Areas of Central Oregon that are eligible for the phase II program include a swath of southwest Crook County and patches of southern Deschutes County. The FCC has estimated the cost of serving those areas at upward of $1,500 per location.

The FCC will hold a reverse auction on July 24, in which it hopes that multiple telecommunications firms will bid to serve rural areas for less than the FCC’s “reserve price.” The application period for providers who want to participate in the auction runs from March 19 to March 30, the FCC said.

BendBroadband parent company TDS Telecom might bid for the Connect America Fund, spokeswoman Deanne Boegli said.

“We are currently evaluating the opportunity in all of our markets across the U.S.,” she said.

Previously, FCC allocated $21.7 million a year to support 50,327 homes and businesses in Oregon. Most of that money will go to CenturyLink, which provides DSL technology over copper phone lines and builds fiber-optic lines. CenturyLink has until 2020 to reach all of the agreed-upon locations.

— Reporter: 541-617-7860, kmclaughlin@bendbulletin.com