WEHCO’s Cablelynx has a secret weapon to connect more families to broadband

Little Rock, Arkansas is the hometown of stellar barbecue, Bill Clinton, and broadband pioneer WEHCO, the parent company of internet service provider Cableynx, which aims to connect families across Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas and Oklahoma. 

Today, more than 68,000 subscribers in these four states receive broadband service via wireless and fiber from Cablelynx. Its parent company was previously a radio station and currently provides cable TV service to more than 10,000 subscribers. 

Cablelynx’s technology base is primarily a hybrid of cable and fiber with 15% of customers having exclusively fiber service. The company’s future expansion plans are primarily focused on bringing fiber to the home. 

Cablelynx has leveraged stakeholder relationships, particularly state broadband offices, to become competitive for BEAD.

Because of this, Laurie Ringler, WEHCO’s Director of Marketing, Reporting and Government Affairs splits herself between in-person meetings in Arkansas and Mississippi and virtual meetings in Texas with their respective broadband teams. 

“It’s about being as physically present as possible whether that’s me hopping in my car and driving to an event in Mississippi or tuning into a virtual event in Texas,” Ringler said. “These events and relationships with these offices are crucial to our work.” 

This also ensures that your voice is heard especially on future challenges, such as low-cost service plans and workforce issues. 

Cablelynx, during the early days of the pandemic, partnered with the Hot Springs School District to provide subsidized internet to students at no direct expense to the consumer. 

“They were literally giving us a list of student’s numbers and we were reaching out directly to tell them that they could have  Internet being paid for by the district,” Charlotte Dial, WEHCO’s VP of Administration, said. 

As part of BEAD, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)requires  providers like Cablelynx to make this more permanent by offering low-cost service plans to a wider pool of customers. 

“Each of these states are handling low-cost service plans differently,” Laurie Ringler, WEHCO’s Director of Marketing, Reporting and Government Affairs said. “Arkansas is using a formula to figure out an amount on a county-by-county basis,  Texas and Oklahoma are working to set a flat rate. We need to know what’s going on in advance so we can ensure that the revenue loss that’s going to happen, as a result, is justifiable.” 

Utilizing geospatial services has also served as a boost to Cablelynx’s operation. 

During the summer of 2023, Cablelynx utilized Broadband.money’s geospatial technology in their Mississippi’s Capital Projects Fund application to properly visualize the area that they were seeking to serve. 

Heading further into 2024, Dial and Ringler are focused on ensuring that they heed the warning of Lori Adams and others to be fully prepared for the (deceptively) long application process ahead of them.