investment credit (a) In general (1) Credit amount For the purposes of section 46, in the case of a rural incumbent local exchange carrier, the rural communications investment credit for any taxable year is an amount equal to 30 percent of the amounts that are paid or incurred by such carrier during any qualified 1-year period ending in such taxable year to purchase, maintain, or improve property for the purpose of providing voice telephone service or broadband internet access service in an area described in section 139J(c)(2). (2) Exclusion of certain Federal funds Amounts paid or incurred which are otherwise taken into account under paragraph (1) with respect to any qualified 1-year period shall be reduced (including for purposes of subsection (b)) by the amount of any Federal universal service support under section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 for the deployment of communications infrastructure, or any Federal grant for the deployment of communications infrastructure received by such carrier and properly attributable to such period. (b) Rural incumbent local exchange carrier For purposes of this section, the term rural incumbent local exchange carrier means, for a 1-year period, an incumbent local exchange carrier— (1) whose stock has been acquired in a sale or exchange described in section 139J, (2) for which— (A) the ratio of— (i) the amount described in subsection (a)(1), divided by (ii) the average active voice telephone service or broadband internet access service connections during the qualified 1-year period referred to in subsection (a)(1), is not less than