AT&T and DirecTV merger, page-4

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=94d440c6-88c4-41c2-abe7-ec4f606bf980

Apparently AT&T and Verizon have until 27-Aug-2015 to accept funding from the Connect America Fund. The roll-out plan is very aggressive so I would imagine AT&T and/or Verizon or any other provider will have done plenty of the design work before accepting the funds.  I could also imagine these providers have estimated their costs to determine if accepting the funds is worthwhile.  Whilst AT&T have committed to rural broadband as part of the merger, they may opt to go slow and offer slower speeds rather than accept the funds and be forced to comply with the accelerated roll-out and minimum bandwidth speeds.  

There is a chance we could see one or a few US service providers signing contracts in the next month or two (hopefully with NTC).