Rural Arkansas Gets Gig-Speed Internet as Broadband Buildout Nears Halfway Mark

By the Arkansas Black Vitality Staff

April 20, 2026 – Nearly 40 rural Arkansas communities are now receiving “gig-speed” Internet service, thanks to one of the few Biden administration-era funding programs that President Trump did not dismantle.

On Monday, Charlotte, N.C.-based Brightspeed announced that its fiber network buildout in Arkansas is 50% complete, providing nearly 101,000 homes and businesses in rural Arkansas with access to high-speed broadband service at federally subsidized prices.

“Bringing fiber connectivity to these communities is a major step forward for our residents and businesses,” said Glen Howie, director of the Arkansas State Broadband, also known as ARConnect.

“Reliable, high‑speed internet opens the door to economic advancement, supports education and healthcare, and helps ensure Arkansans, both urban and rural, can self-determine their success in the twenty-first century digital economy.”

BEAD and ARPA funding boost last-mile broadband expansion

Brightspeed’s Arkansas expansion is supported by nearly $26.3 million in federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) funding to build out an additional 13,799 locations, thereby boosting the company’s private investment in the state. Additionally, the state awarded the rural Internet carrier more than $470,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grants to extend its fiber network to another 528 locations.

Brightspeed began operations in Arkansas in October 2022 following the acquisition of incumbent local exchange carrier assets and associated operations across 20 states from Lumen Technologies, the former parent of rural landline carrier CenturyLink. The $7.5 billion deal was financed by the Wall Street private equity firm, Apollo Global Management.

Nationally, the BEAD Program was allocated $42.45 billion by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to expand high-speed internet access by funding broadband planning, deployment, mapping, equity, and adoption projects and activities.

In February, the Arkansas Legislative Council (ALC) approved the initial tranche of Arkansas’s more than $1.2 billion in BEAD funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), allocating $126.1 million to expand high-speed broadband access in most rural areas of the state.

According to Brightspeed, whose operational footprint spans 20 states, once the company’s Arkansas building is complete, rural customers in 22 communities will have “superfast” gigabit internet connectivity. Gigabit internet service offers speeds up to 1,000 megabits per second (Mbps), or 1 gigabit per second (Gbps), enabling extremely fast downloads and uploads, simultaneous use across multiple devices, and streaming and gaming.

Where gig-speed internet is arriving next in rural Arkansas

As construction on the company’s fiber network continues, more than 202,000 locations are planned statewide once deployment is complete. Brightspeed said company representatives are hitting the streets to inform local residents about the new service and help them get connected in the following Arkansas communities: Atkins, Austin, Bald Knob, Cabot, Caraway, Carlisle, Cave Springs, Centerton, Clarendon, Dardanelle, Des Arc, De Witt, Dumas, England, Hazen, Jacksonville, Judsonia, Kensett, Lake City, Leachville, Lowell, Manila, Marvell, McCory, Mountain Home, Paris, Pea Ridge, Piggott, Pocahontas, Prescott, Rector, Russellville, Siloam Springs, Star City, Stuttgart, Trumann, Waldo and Waldron.

“Reaching the halfway point in Arkansas is an important milestone, but making sure people understand how to take advantage of fiber service is just as critical,” said Tshacha Romeo, director of sales channel at Brightspeed. “Our door‑to‑door teams play a vital role by meeting residents and business owners where they are, answering questions and helping them get connected so no one is left behind as our network expands.”

Arkansas’s first round of awards supported projects that reached more than 51,000 homes and businesses statewide. The approved projects involve 15 Internet Service Providers (ISPs), including 13 fiber-optic providers such as Brightspeed, 2 satellite providers, and 1 fixed wireless operator.

Along with the initial $126.1 million in BEAD funding, Brightspeed and the other ISPs have pledged $160.9 million in matching private capital, bringing total project costs for this first round to more than $287 million.

“That level of commitment reflects confidence in Arkansas’ market-driven broadband strategy. We are building on nationally leading connectivity growth and moving decisively to eliminate the digital divide in Arkansas by the end of the decade,” Howie said in February about the public-private funding partnership.

BEAD’s national scope—and what the end of Digital Equity funding could mean

One of the few federal programs from the Biden era supported by President Trump, the BEAD Program’s mission is to expand high-speed internet access nationwide through funding for broadband planning, deployment, mapping, equity, and adoption projects and activities.

Part of the five-year, $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Jobs Act—signed into law by President Biden after bipartisan congressional approval in November 2021—it is a small piece of the country’s largest infrastructure investment in nearly a century.

Following last summer’s BEAD application period, the Natural State was one of only 19 states allocated more than $1 billion through the rural broadband program, ranking ninth in the country per capita. 

In early 2025, ARConnect announced the first round of applications for the state’s BEAD infrastructure buildout, calling it “the single largest investment in broadband infrastructure in the state’s history.” By the end of January 2025, state officials reported receiving over 814 bids for the initial round of BEAD funding to establish a broadband backbone for 84,000 homes, businesses, and community anchor institutions across the state.

Overall, 48 ISPs and partnerships pre-registered to participate in the state BEAD program. Of these, 29 ISPs and partnerships are based in Arkansas, while 19 ISPs pre-registered nationwide. In late August, Arkansas released its draft final proposal for distributing federal broadband funding, outlining plans to connect all 79,272 unserved and underserved locations in the state for just $308.3 million.

The proposal provides an average subsidy of $3,889 per location, according to the Arkansas State Broadband Office’s draft report.

However, in addition to the $1.2 billion in infrastructure funding to build out the state’s broadband network, federal funding under NTIA’s complementary Digital Equity Act has been terminated. The Digital Equity Act totaled $2.75 billion in federal funding, including the State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program ($1.44 billion), the State Digital Equity Planning Grant Program ($60 million), and the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program ($1.25 billion).

The Competitive Grant was intended to complement BEAD funding and ensure that rural communities have access to the devices and skills needed to participate fully in the digital ecosystem. About $619 million of the $1 billion available in the first round of the highly competitive 50-state competition was announced just days before Biden left office in early 2025.

In Arkansas, the NTIA recommended that the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and two other U.S.-based nonprofits receive millions in State Digital Equity funding to support digital skills and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) projects across Arkansas and the other 49 states.

According to the NTIA award letters, over $10 million in funding would have enabled UAMS to offer comprehensive digital literacy training in rural Arkansas. That training would have focused on healthcare-related skills, including the use of mobile health devices, understanding telehealth platforms, and basic digital literacy, such as Wi-Fi connectivity, cybersecurity, and online privacy. 

However, only days after taking office, President Trump, in a Jan. 20, 2025 executive order titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” halted the NTIA allocation of all funding under the Digital Equity Act. Despite several federal lawsuits, the NTIA has canceled the grant program.