by - November 26, 2025 6:19 am
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved the state of Arkansas’ final proposal for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, state officials…
by - April 3, 2024 5:12 pm
The Arkansas State Broadband Office has received approval for its Digital Skills and Opportunity Plan from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). In 2022, the…
by - March 18, 2024 11:18 am
The Arkansas State Broadband Office will launch its Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) mapping challenge process on Wednesday, March 20. The months-long process will enable stakeholders in Arkansas to…
by - July 11, 2022 5:33 pm
Arkansas Secretary of Commerce Mike Preston announced Monday (July 11) that Glen Howie has been named the state’s new Director of Broadband. Howie comes to the Commerce Department from Louisiana’s…
by - April 18, 2022 2:52 pm
Arkansas has 210,000 households underserved by broadband services, but 100,000 of them are being addressed by federal and state programs. Using federal funding, the remaining 110,000 households could be reached…
by - April 21, 2021 10:47 am
Jonesboro-based Ritter Communications said Wednesday (April 21) the company is investing $28 million to bring 100% fiber internet services and advanced cloud solutions to business customers in Springdale, Lowell, Fayetteville,…
by - July 23, 2019 10:41 am
Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Commerce Secretary Mike Preston have named Nathan Smith, Ph.D., as the state’s first broadband manager. The position, which was amended by Act 792 of 2019, will…
by - February 16, 2019 11:32 am
North Arkansas Electric Cooperative was formed in 1939 to deliver life-changing electricity to people in unserved rural areas. With access to electricity came running water, refrigeration, electric-powered farming equipment and…
by - July 18, 2016 5:00 pm
Arkansas by July 2017 will be one of three states where every school is connected to high speed broadband internet, members of the House and Senate Education Committees were told…
by - June 10, 2016 4:42 pm
An electric cooperative in Northwest Arkansas is preparing to lay what it calls a 7,000-mile, “future-proof” fiber optics line, but the president and chairman of Aristotle says no technology is future…
by - March 17, 2016 4:24 pm
Ritter Communications Holdings President Alan Morse told a legislative committee Thursday (March 17) that infrastructure has a huge role in the expansion of broadband services, and expansion investment is tough…
by - July 15, 2015 6:04 pm
The Fort Smith School District became the first in the state of Arkansas to acquire a new upgraded, high-speed, fiber-optic broadband network 40 times faster than what other schools throughout…
by - October 22, 2014 1:09 pm
As the world becomes more digitally connected, expanding broadband access for Arkansans has become an important issue across the state. And in the area of education, broadband access has become…
by - September 3, 2014 1:04 pm
A statewide survey conducted last week found that a strong majority of Arkansans are persuaded by a variety of arguments to increase broadband access to K-12 schools and students. The…
by - August 12, 2014 8:14 pm
Arkansas should be able to expand broadband access to all public schools without extra state funding because it’s currently wasting too much money on outdated technology and is not effectively…
by - August 11, 2014 7:04 pm
Arkansas should be able to connect all of its schools to high-speed fiber optics broadband networks within a few years using $15 million it already spends annually on outdated copper…
by - June 26, 2014 5:57 pm
Business leaders calling for the state’s public schools to connect to a university-based high-speed network hope to have cost estimates by mid-July and would like Gov. Mike Beebe to call…
by - December 3, 2013 5:18 pm
The ambitious effort to expand broadband capability in Arkansas public schools moved forward on Tuesday (Dec. 3) as two working groups accepted an engineering report and recommended the state proceed…
by - September 26, 2013 1:41 pm
State business, education and policy leaders are meeting at the Marriott Hotel in Little Rock to discuss strategies for deploying more broadband throughout Arkansas. The Connecting Arkansas Internet Conference, spearheaded…
by - August 19, 2013 4:44 pm
With Arkansas pursuing expanded broadband in its public schools, an FCC commissioner says she wants her agency to be a catalyst for meeting the state’s goals and pushing for greater…
