Arkansas State Broadband Director Glen Howie discusses a tentative timeline for the federal BEAD program during a town hall meeting at the Fayetteville Public Library on Aug. 20, 2024. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)
The Arkansas State Broadband Office on Tuesday launched a series of town hall meetings aimed at preparing community leaders to support local projects that will apply for a $1 billion broadband infrastructure grant program later this year.
Created through the Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act of 2021, the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program provides $42.5 billion in federal funding to expand high-speed internet access by funding planning, infrastructure deployment and adoption programs.
The goal of the initiative, which is administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), is to get all Americans online by supporting partnerships among states or territories, communities and stakeholders, according to NTIA’s website .
State Broadband Director Glen Howie told about two dozen people at the Fayetteville Public Library Tuesday morning that Arkansas is one of 19 states receiving more than $1 billion through the BEAD program. The $1.024 billion allocated to Arkansas in June 2023 “represents the single largest investment in broadband infrastructure in the state’s history,” he said.
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Arkansas State Sen. Greg Leding, a Fayetteville Democrat and co-host of Tuesday’s event, said that although a lot of people take internet access for granted, high-quality interest is not accessible for many Arkansans.
“Closing that gap is critical to closing the digital gap and empowering Arkansans all across the state,” Leding said.
Arkansas ranks 49th for broadband access, according to a Broadband Now analysis that ranks the country’s best and worst states for internet based on coverage, speed and price access.
According to a tentative timeline outlined by Howie on Tuesday, the process of awarding grants could begin with opening the application period in September and end with finalizing negotiations with internet service providers (ISPs) next June. Howie said an applicant primer for those pursuing BEAD program funding would be released Tuesday.
Howie also said his office would release data Tuesday estimating what the cost per county would be to expand internet services to underserved areas of the state.
According to a financial model that’s based on the 78,500 BEAD-eligible locations identified in Arkansas, Howie said the total buildout cost for the entire state could be around $500 million. While it will likely cost more than that, Howie said there’s a good chance Arkansas will still have excess funds that can be used to support additional broadband-related projects, which he encouraged stakeholders to begin thinking about.
“If we’re going to be in this position, we need to take advantage of it and not squander it,” he said.
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Citing the state’s poor maternal health outcomes, Howie suggested as an example projects that could improve expectant mothers’ access to telehealth services. Arkansas has one of the nation’s highest maternal mortality rates and the third-highest infant mortality rate, according to the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement .
Linda Graves and Michael Reece from Holiday Island in Carroll County agreed that telehealth services would be a huge benefit for their rural north Arkansas community, especially for women like Reece’s wife, who had to travel to Northwest Arkansas for maternal health services while she was pregnant.
“Access to health care is real difficult in Carroll County,” Graves said. “…we don’t have any form of maternal care at all in Carroll County and we only have two very small hospitals.”
Holiday Island is a large retirement community with lots of senior citizens for whom transportation can be difficult, Graves said.
“I think telemedicine is a big thing that we need,” she said.
In addition to increasing access to health care, Graves said high-speed internet is essential for local students as well as remote workers who’ve relocated to the area.
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Graves, a city council member, and Reece, project manager for Hometown Internet, are members of the Carroll County Broadband Committee, a group that’s advocating for internet access in their community. Howie said his office encouraged Arkansans to start their own county broadband committees after a tour of all 75 counties last year, and 54 have done so.
As committee members, Graves and Reece were involved with the recent BEAD mapping challenge process , which allowed local governments and nonprofit organizations to, on behalf of Arkansans, challenge the accuracy of the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Map , which provides information about internet service available at locations across the country, as reported by internet service providers.
The accuracy of the map will impact what projects receive funding because the BEAD program focuses on expanding access to unserved or underserved areas.
A benefit of the BEAD program focusing on installing high-speed fiber internet, Reece said, is that his community will be equipped with technology that won’t be obsolete in a few years.
“That’s what this means for not only Arkansas, but for every state is that we’re hoping to finally connect everyone in the country and get access to reliable and affordable high-speed internet,” Reece said.
The Arkansas State Broadband Office will continue hosting town halls at more than a dozen cities by Aug. 31. Location and registration information about the meetings is available here .
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