Why Did Arkansas Change Its Mind on Municipal Broadband?

Arkansas is the least connected of the 50 states. Since 2011, the state has banned cities and towns from building their own networks, outlawing a local solution that has been hailed as an effective way for communities to connect themselves when they don’t have internet providers. In 2019, however, AR appears to be having a change of heart. Under the weight of constituent complaints about lousy internet—and after years of waiting for subsidies to goad telecommunication giants into expanding the infrastructure—the state legislature in Feb passed a bill to repeal its ban. Gov Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) said he will sign it. Institute for Local Self-Reliance's Christopher Mitchell sees the change in AR as a milestone: It’s a red state, and constituent concerns overrode telecommunication interests and ideology.