Arkansas

The Federal Communications Commission grants Wisper Internet a limited waiver of the Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund service milestone and non-compliance rules. If Wisper timely repays the RDOF support it has received for all the eligible census blocks within the census block groups covered by its authorized Arkansas winning bids, we will relieve Wisper of RDOF obligations to serve these CBGs.

Arkansas has shown what is possible when broadband policy is executed with discipline. Through a highly competitive process, our state secured deployment commitments for each of its 79,000 unserved locations using just over $300 million of its $1 billion BEAD allocation.

The Federal Communications Commission announced that certain Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) census block groups (CBG) are now eligible for other funding programs.

Four States Fiber notified the Federal Communications Commission of its decision to partially default on certain Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF)-funded Census Block Groups (CBGs) in Arkansas and Louisiana. Four States Fiber has faced multiple setbacks, which led the company to make the difficult decision to partially default on its RDOF obligations in Arkansas and Louisiana. Four States Fiber understands that by defaulting on the CBGs, it will no longer be entitled to receive further RDOF funding in these CBGs and that it may be subject to the FCC’s applicable non-compliance rules.

Brightspeed acquired Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) obligations and support in nine states on October 3, 2022, as part of the acquisition of Lumen Technologies' incumbent local exchange carrier subsidiaries in twenty states. Brightspeed committed to fulfilling those obligations in connection with the Wireline Competition Bureau’s approval of the transfer of control.

South Central Connect, a subsidiary of South Central Arkansas Electric Cooperative, is receiving Rural Digital Opportunity Fund funding to deploy 1 Gbps/500 Mbps service to 48 Census Block Groups in Arkansas. South Central Connect hereby notifies the Federal Communications Commission of its decision to default on 13 of its 48 RDOF CBGs in Arkansas.

Today's big news is that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approved 18 Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program Final Proposals. As a reminder, we've been tracking what those proposals looked like when they were submitted to the NTIA. In the coming days, we'll be examining the final final (Is that what we should call them?) BEAD plans to see what changes were made during the approval process.

Arkansas' preliminary proposal to invest around $300 million in federal funding to provide internet infrastructure to 79,000 homes and businesses is "at the top of the pack" compared to other state proposals, according to a broadband expert. Despite federal changes to the program that aimed to cut costs and, in turn, encourage satellite infrastructure, the vast majority of underserved locations in the state will receive comparatively more reliable fiber infrastructure, unlike other states in the region.

Following a June 6 announcement from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that restructured the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, all states and territories have been tasked with reevaluating their plans to connect un- and underserved locations to high-speed internet.