Agency to redo criteria of Internet program

The state Broadband Office will rewrite the criteria for receiving state grant money aimed at extending high-speed Internet to rural areas after lawmakers, stakeholders and the public objected to the office’s proposed framework.

The proposed rules for the Arkansas Rural Connect Broadband Grant Program would have limited the money strictly to municipalities, but after a contentious

legislative hearing last week and several hundred public comments objecting to the limitation, the rules will be changed to open the money to counties and unincorporated areas, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Commerce said.

County officials and rural residents told the department the initial proposal would have excluded the very areas most needing of help, and members of the General Assembly said the proposed rules were contrary to the intent of the legislation spawning the program.

“We’re going to look into these unincorporated areas to see how we can get those areas into the plan, give them an opportunity to compete so that they can get broadband there and we can expand that footprint,” Commerce Department attorney Steven Porch said at a public hearing this week. “That’s what our goals are.”

The rules are being tweaked, and Alisha Curtis, the chief communications director and legislative liaison for the Commerce Department, said under the new rule counties will be able to participate in the program.

“The comments have been heard,” Curtis said. “We have authority to amend the rules to include unincorporated communities.

We are in the process of doing that now as well as pouring over the legislative and public comments we have received. We will not have a pre-determined list. Everyone will have the opportunity to compete.”

The Arkansas Rural Connect Broadband Grant program would distribute $25 million in grants to broadband development projects in underserved areas.

The money is meant to provide incentives for Internet service providers to build high-speed infrastructure in places lacking it. Those companies have been hesitant to deploy broadband service and infrastructure to sparsely populated areas because it’s not profitable.

Under the program, those companies would partner with local government entities to receive the state subsidies.

The program was developed after the General Assembly enacted Act 198 of 2019, which removed a prohibition on local governments providing broadband services and infrastructure.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson set a goal in May by 2022 all communities of at least 500 will have access to broadband, so the grant money is expected to focus on areas of 500 or greater, though the requirement wasn’t a part of the proposed rules.

Many of the comments submitted in opposition to the

rules were identical, saying the program would further isolate rural areas.

Many residents from Hot Springs Village wrote in opposition. Hot Springs Village is an unincorporated area with about 17,000 people, but it still lacks reliable broadband.

“Please adopt rules that will allow us to apply to be a grant recipient,” scores of Hot Springs Village residents wrote. “Remember that over 800 school age children live within the boundaries of our gated community and we make a large impact on the economy of Arkansas. Thanks for your consideration.”

The Arkansas Farm Bureau also supported changing the rule to allow counties and unincorporated areas to apply for the grants, as did several Internet providers.

Jeff Pitchford, the Farm Bureau’s director of public affairs and government relations, said broadband is one of the top issues of concern for the bureau’s members. The group is in favor of the Commerce Department’s changes. he said.

“Agriculture in the 21st century is high-tech and science based,” Pitchford said. “If you are out there with these very expensive pieces of equipment that need connectivity and you can’t do that, you’re at a disadvantage.”

Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, last week questioned the provision in the proposed rules limiting the money to cities. The Commerce Department said the $25 million program was a starting point, and beginning with cities would ensure the money stretched the furthest.

But Hammer and others noted places such as East End and Hot Springs Village were larger than many cities and county governments could administer the grant projects just as well as cities.

Hammer said he was satisfied with the way the department plans to change the rules.

“My support of it all along was built around the way [Act 198] was presented,” Hammer said. “That it was for rural Arkansas. You can’t do rural Arkansas if you exclude unincorporated areas or places that have 500 or less.”

Before taking effect, the program rules must be approved by the Arkansas Legislative Council, probably in December or January.

Arkansas ranks 48th in the U.S. in broadband access, according to BroadbandNow. com.

While 92% of Americans have access to Internet speeds of 25 megabits per second for downloads and 3 mbps for uploads (the federal broadband standard), only about 75% of Arkansans do. Those speeds allow a user to download a typical song in about a second and a two-hour movie in about 10 minutes.