Arkansas State Broadband Office
Arkansas Broadband Grant Award Status
BEAD: $1.02 B
Treasury Capital Projects Fund: $158.1 M
Broadband Office Name:
Arkansas State Broadband Office
Parent Department:
Arkansas Department of Commerce Broadband Office
Arkansas Broadband Director
Glen Howie
About Arkansas Broadband Office
The Arkansas Department of Commerce's Broadband Office coordinates the state's broadband related activities. The Arkansas Rural Connect Grant Program provides funding to assist in the deployment or improvement of broadband infrastructure into unserved or improvement to underserved communities.
The state's broadband goal, as articulated in its 2019 broadband plan, is to get universal access to broadband at speeds of 25Mbps upload /3Mbps download by 2022.
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Institute for Digital Health and Innovation manages the state's rural broadband grants.
The Arkansas legislature also created the Rural Broadband I.D. Expenses Trust Fund. Based at the UAMS Office of Digital Health and Innovation, this grant program provides one-time grants for ISPs to meet certain requirements for future qualification in USDA and FCC federal grant programs.