September 27, 2010
Contact: Jamie Moody, Marketing Director 501.374.9247, jmoody@arcapital.com

Connect Arkansas President C. Sam Walls today announced that the organization will receive $7.8 million in federal grants through the Sustainable Broadband Adoption and State Broadband Data and Development grant programs administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The SBA award totaled $3,702,738; the SBDD award totaled $4,094,128.

“This is an exciting day for Connect,” Walls said. “The additional three-year grant validates the work we have completed thus far. We are very excited about what we can accomplish across the State of Arkansas through the increased adoption of broadband by our citizens. Walls noted that while today’s grant award does not fully fund Connect Arkansas’s long-term strategic plan, Walls said,

“Today’s award will go a long way toward accomplishing our goals, and it supports a significant piece of what we’re trying to do.” Money from the SBA grant will be used by Connect to conduct a number of activities with the goal of increasing the use of high-speed internet by the citizens of Arkansas.

Those activities will include: -statewide high-speed internet planning -improving broadband education -providing computers to children of low-income families -online entrepreneurial activities -forming partnerships with UAMS to improve Telehealth training and delivery. Funding from the SBDD grant will allow Connect to continue maintaining state-level broadband data collection for the purpose of accomplishing state and federal objectives. Connect Arkansas received a two-year grant in 2009 to begin broadband data collection; today’s three-year grant – which will begin in 2011 – will allow Connect to continue to enhance and improve the data the organization has collected to date. Connect created and released a set of broadband coverage maps for public view in May, and will be releasing a next generation, interactive coverage map this fall. The grant also provides funding for broadband awareness efforts and community strategic planning.

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Connect Arkansas was created by Act 924 of the 2007 Arkansas Legislature to promote sustainable high-speed internet deployment and education throughout Arkansas. Part of Connect Arkansas’s mission is the e-Communities initiative, a grassroots, county-by-county project to influence increased access, awareness, and use of the internet; guaranteeing Arkansans a level playing field in the world’s competitive environment, regardless of where they live. For more information on Connect Arkansas and its mission, go to www.connect-arkansas.org.

The NTIA will disburse the following Public Computer Center awards:

Arizona: Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records — $1.3 million grant with matching funds of $320,000 to enhance existing facilities in more than 80 public libraries throughout the state. The project expects to deploy more than 1,000 computers to meet growing demand.

Massachusetts: Boston — $1.9 million grant with matching funds of $477,000 to expand computer and Internet capacity at the city’s main library and 25 branches, 16 community centers and 11 public housing sites.

Minnesota: Regents of the University of Minnesota — $2.9 million grant with matching funds of $741,000 to enhance broadband awareness and use for residents in four federally designated poverty zones in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Washington: The Inland Northwest Community Access Network (Tincan) — $1.3 million grant with matching funds of $753,000 to establish three new public computer centers and expand 14 existing centers throughout Spokane’s poorest neighborhoods to serve more than 5,000 additional users per week.

The NTIA will disburse the following Sustainable Broadband Adoption awards:

New Mexico: New Mexico State Library — $1.5 million grant with an additional $591,000 in matching funds to increase broadband adoption and promote computer literacy and Internet use among vulnerable populations, Hispanic and Native American users, small businesses and entrepreneurs through training and outreach statewide.

Washington: The Inland Northwest Community Access Network — $981,000 grant with an additional $728,000 in matching funds to increase broadband adoption through basic and advanced computer skill training, as well as community-based outreach campaigns to highlight the benefits of broadband for vulnerable populations in Spokane.

The Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service will disburse the following Last Mile and Middle Mile awards:

Alaska: Anchorage, Rivada Sea Lion — $25.3 million grant with $6.4 million of leveraged funds; 4G high-speed broadband internet service availability to more than 9,000 unserved locations in a 90,000-square-mile area where these southwestern Alaska inhabitants are living at subsistence level.

Hawaii: Big Island Broadband/Aloha Broadband Inc. — $106,503 loan with matching funds of $87,405 to bring broadband services to an unserved area in the northern part of the islands where there are nearly 600 residents and businesses.

Colorado/Nebraska: Peetz, Colorado, Peetz Cooperative Telephone Co. — $1.5 million grant; expansion of existing infrastructure utilizing a combination of technologies. This project will make broadband service available to as many as 550 locations in the service area.

Michigan: The Chatham Telephone Co. — $8.6 million grant to bring high-speed DSL broadband service to remote, unserved businesses and households within its rural territory; service that is comparable to the DSL service provided in its more populated areas.

New Hampshire: Bretton Woods, The Bretton Woods Telephone Company — $985,000 grant for 20 Mbps two-way broadband service to all potential customers and stimulate tourism in the area to substantially improve the local economy. This Fiber to The Premise service will be available to more than 400 locations.

New York: Potsdam, Slic Network Solutions (Nicholville Telephone) — a grant of $4.3 million and loan of $1.1 million for a 136-mile fiber-optic network reaching into five towns in rural Franklin County. This all-fiber network will deliver broadband voice, and IPTV services to remote rural areas. The network will offer service to more than 6,500 locations.

Ohio: North Central Ohio Rural Fiber Optic Network, Consolidated Electric Cooperative — $1,034,413 grant and $1,399,499 loan; and matching funds of $1,225,000. The funding is integral to a smart grid initiative and broadband service based on an open-connectivity fiber-optic backbone network.

Oklahoma: Southeast Oklahoma, The Pine Telephone Co. — $9.5 grant with an additional $4.6 million in private funds to provide services to an entirely remote, rural, unserved and severely economically disadvantaged community.

“Though broadband services will be available to almost 95 percent of U.S. households by 2014, many homes will still lack access to low-cost, high-speed options, according to a recent report commissioned by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Despite the projected increase in availability, the study finds that the rate of adoption and the availability of truly high-speed Internet services will be much lower. While upgrades to cable broadband networks and new wireless technologies will help provide new options, government involvement may be the only way to keep U.S. adoption rates competitive with other global markets.”

The FCC further notes: “the Columbia Institute of Tele-Information, which prepared the report, estimates the current broadband availability rate at 91 percent. Broadband in America: Where It Is and Where It Is Going (According the Broadband Service Providers) provides a listing of all publicly-announced broadband plans and a comparison of the progress of these plans to their original scope and timeline. These plans are sorted by company and the nature of the broadband technology. Using this data, the authors estimate the state of U.S. broadband in three-to-five years, including the availability of both wired and wireless services. The forecast does not take into consideration the effect of the federal broadband stimulus effort or any other government broadband initiative that could increase adoption and accessibility.

By 2014, 95 percent of U.S. homes will have access to at least low-speed broadband services, according to the report. Of the homes that receive broadband services, however, up to nine percent only will have access inferior options with slower speeds. These options include satellite broadband and low-speed wired and wireless services. Satellite-based services tend to be slower and depend on unimpeded line-of-sight to the position of broadband satellites. The lack of convenient, lower-cost, high-speed Internet access will continue to depress broadband adoption over the next few years.”

Lastly, the report found that currently “63 percent of U.S. homes subscribe to a wired broadband service. The report estimates that this figure will grow to 69 percent in 2014. Adoption rates have slowed over the past few years as the market has approached saturation and consumer spending has slowed. Meanwhile, subscriptions to wireless providers are on the rise. The wireless broadband adoption rate is expected to pass 50 percent in 2013, up from the current level of 31 percent.”

Government support for wired infrastructure build-out or for new wireless technologies, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and WiMAX, could boost the availability of high-speed options across the country. The 2009 Recovery Act included funds for broadband mapping initiatives to reveal the extent of state broadband gaps in access and speed. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has awarded Broadband Technology Opportunity Grants to 19 states and the District of Columbia.

Read Broadband in America: Where It Is and Where It Is Going (According the Broadband Service Providers) at: http://www.broadband.gov/docs/Broadband_in_America.pdf.

The study Connect Arkansas engaged in included a set of questions concerning computer and internet usage that were included in a more general study of public perceptions in Arkansas. This general population survey employed random digit dialing. The sample size for the survey was 608 respondents with a margin of error of +/- 4.0%.

Initial survey results indicate the following:

Internet Usage

• 29% of the population has never used the internet.

• Over 50% of households, with an income of less than $30,000, have never used the internet. As
household income increases, however, there is a significant increase in the use of the internet.

Access

• 51% do not have broadband service, while another 7% were unsure of what broadband, or high

speed internet access, meant.

• Even if broadband was affordable and was made available to every household in Arkansas,
30% would not subscribe to the service.

Subscription Rates:

• Of the population that had access to broadband, 74% thought the rates charged were
reasonable.

The results of this survey were obtained to provide a preliminary look at internet usage in Arkansas and closely mirror nationwide surveys indicating that thirty-two percent of adults in the United States do not use the internet. The survey results for Arkansas show the need not only for further infrastructure to deliver broadband access, but the even greater need to engage Arkansas in utilizing the internet in their daily lives.

While this baseline survey is two years old, the data collected in 2007 is still relevant in Arkansas today. This information aided Connect in developing its’ e-Communities program that surveys and addresses regional needs around internet adoption, public access to broadband and developing GIS maps on broadband availability. Going forward, Connect Arkansas expects the initial data revealed in 2007 to begin to see improvements upon further development of the e-Communities program.

For Immediate Release: October 26, 2009
Contact:  Jess Schafer, 202-482-5670 or press@ntia.doc.gov

WASHINGTON –The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) today announced that it has awarded grants to fund broadband mapping and planning activities in Arkansas, the District of Columbia, and New York under NTIA’s State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program. The program, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will increase broadband access and adoption through better data collection and broadband planning. The data will be displayed in NTIA’s national broadband map, a tool that will inform policymakers’ efforts and provide consumers with improved information on the broadband Internet services available to them.

“This program will advance efforts to expand broadband access and adoption nationwide, which is vital to job creation and economic recovery,” said Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling. “NTIA will continue to provide guidance to applicants where necessary to help them improve their proposed projects, so that all states and territories can soon participate in this initiative.”

NTIA received applications representing all 50 states, 5 territories, and the District of Columbia to participate in the program, meaning that all governments that were eligible to apply for grants did so, whether directly or through a designated entity. The first five grants under this program were announced earlier this month and the agency expects to continue announcing awards on a rolling basis throughout the fall.

With today’s announcement, NTIA has awarded Connect Arkansas approximately $1.6 million for broadband data collection and mapping activities over a two-year period and almost $500,000 for broadband planning activities over a five-year period for the state of Arkansas, bringing the total grant award to nearly $2.1 million. Connect Arkansas, the designated entity for the state of Arkansas, is a private nonprofit organization based in that state.

NTIA has awarded the District of Columbia Office of the Chief Technology Officer (DC OCTO) approximately $993,000 for broadband data collection and mapping activities over a two-year period and $500,000 for broadband planning activities over a five-year period for the District of Columbia, bringing the total grant award to nearly $1.5 million. DC OCTO is the designated entity for the District of Columbia.

In addition, NTIA has awarded the New York State Office of Cyber Security & Critical Infrastructure (OCSCI) approximately $2 million for broadband data collection and mapping activities over a two-year period and $500,000 for broadband planning activities over a five-year period for New York, bringing the total grant award to approximately $2.5 million. OCSCI is the designated entity for the state of New York.

Awardees will collect and verify the availability, speed, and location of broadband across the state. This activity is to be conducted on a semi-annual basis between 2009 and 2011, with the data to be presented in a clear and accessible format to the public, government, and the research community.

The State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program is a matching grant program that implements the joint purposes of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Broadband Data Improvement Act (BDIA). The program will provide grants to assist states or their designees in gathering and verifying state-specific data on the availability, speed, location, and technology type of broadband services. The data they collect and compile will also be used to develop publicly available state-wide broadband maps and to inform the comprehensive, interactive, and searchable national broadband map that NTIA is required by the Recovery Act to create and make publicly available by February 17, 2011.

The national broadband map will publicly display the geographic areas where broadband service is available; the technology used to provide the service; the speeds of the service; and broadband service availability at public schools, libraries, hospitals, colleges, universities, and public buildings. The national map will also be searchable by address and show the broadband providers offering service in the corresponding census block or street segment.

Awardees are required to contribute at least 20 percent non-federal matching funds toward project costs. In addition, while the BDIA mandates that each state may designate only one eligible entity to receive funds under the program, each state’s applicant will be carefully evaluated and must meet the standards described in NTIA’s Notice of Funds Availability for this program in order to receive funding.

U.S. Department of Commerce’s NTIA serves as the executive branch agency principally responsible for advising the President on communications and information policy. For more information about the NTIA, visit www.ntia.doc.gov.

Broadband access enhances economic growth and performance. Documenting various measures of economic growth and performance between 1998 and 2003, an Economic Development Administration study concluded that communities which had mass-market broadband, “…experienced more rapid growth in employment, the number of businesses overall, and businesses in IT-intensive sectors, relative to comparable communities without broadband at that time.” The positive impact of broadband was found to be robust even for areas that were economically distressed. In short, the report states that, “Broadband is clearly related to economic well-being and is thus a critical component of our national communications infrastructure.”

In 2006, almost three-quarters of adults were online and 46 percent of households, or 54.6 million, had broadband access throughout the United States (“Broadband Worldwide: 2005-2011”). The use of IT has virtually transformed all sectors of the U.S. economy. E-Commerce retail sales have grown six times faster than total retail sales. Farmers use the internet to sell crops, track market prices and purchase supplies. The government issues E-Z passes to automate toll collection. Parents are even able to communicate virtually with their children’s school teachers. All of these uses translate into significant productivity gains and an increased standard of living.

According to the 2007 State New Economy Index, which ranks states based on their ability to compete in the new economy, Arkansas is significantly behind the rest of the country, ranking 47^th in the nation (Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation). More specifically, the state has yet to catch up to the rest of the nation in regards to its competitiveness in today’s digital economy.

As the share of business and government transactions conducted through digital means continues to increase, it will become more crucial that Arkansas takes steps to retain and strengthen its digital infrastructure. The digital transformation has already revolutionized communities throughout the country and it can do the same for Arkansas. Although rural areas have been slow to join the global economy, the willingness of Arkansans to address these issues and embrace broadband deployment can help build the next generation communications infrastructure that will translate into job growth for Arkansans.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) today announced that it has awarded the first four grants under NTIA’s State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program to fund activities in California, Indiana, North Carolina, and Vermont. The program will increase broadband access and adoption through better data collection and broadband planning. The data will be displayed in NTIA’s national broadband map, a tool that will inform policymakers’ efforts and provide consumers with improved information on the broadband Internet services available to them.

“Broadband will bring many benefits to the Nation, such as job creation and innovation, but these benefits have been delayed by the lack of comprehensive, reliable data on the availability of broadband service,” said Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling. “This program addresses an important need and will provide a valuable tool in bringing broadband and jobs to more Americans.”

NTIA received applications representing all 50 states, 5 territories, and the District of Columbia to participate in the program, meaning that all governments that were eligible to apply for grants did so, whether directly or through a designated entity. The agency is currently reviewing the remaining 52 applications and expects to continue announcing awards on a rolling basis throughout the fall.

A summary of the four awards announced today is as follows:

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is awarded approximately $1.8 million; the Indiana Office of Technology (IOT) is awarded approximately $1.3 million; the Rural Economic Development Center, Inc. (e-NC Authority) is awarded approximately $1.6 million; and the Vermont Center for Geographic Information (VCGI) is awarded approximately $1.2 million to collect and verify the availability, speed, and location of broadband across the states of California, Indiana, North Carolina, and Vermont, respectively. This activity is to be conducted on a semi-annual basis between 2009 and 2011, with initial data coming available in November 2009 to inform broadband policy efforts. Awardees are to present the data in a clear and accessible format to the public, government, and the research community.

Connect Arkansas is the state’s designated non-profit organization appointed by the Governor to engage in and develop the state broadband coverage maps for Arkansas. Connect submitted a proposal for the NTIA “State Broadband Map and Data Development Program” on August 14, 2009 and is currently awaiting information from the NTIA about the status of the state’s proposal.

In economic development, education, and healthcare, broadband is a key strategic component.

Broadband in Arkansas. According to the 2008 State New Economy Index, which ranks states based on their ability to compete in the new economy, Arkansas ranks 47th in the nation. Arkansas also ranks 49th in deployment of broadband telecommunications.

In a recent survey of 608 registered Arkansas voters, 29% of the population have “never used the internet,” while another 7% were unsure of what broadband, or high speed internet access, meant. Even if broadband was affordable and was made available to every household in Arkansas, 30% of the population would not subscribe to the service. With regards to internet access, 51% do not have broadband service.

Capitol Recap: Broadband in Arkansas

http://www.talkbusiness.net/playvideo.aspx?document=395

Our Focus. To facilitate statewide broadband access, Connect Arkansas will focus on three major components:

> Determination of existing broadband infrastructure in Arkansas.

An important step in facilitating access is to create an understanding of local needs. By mapping the state’s existing broadband infrastructure, Connect Arkansas will provide a level of detail that is currently not available in Arkansas. These maps will show where access is available, and more importantly, where access is not available. With this information, broadband providers can strategically optimize their network deployment plans and communities can further their Information Technology (IT) planning initiatives.

> Education.

Connect Arkansas will work with community leaders to develop a strategic plan for IT deployment, while working with local communities to provide public internet access and computer training.

> Equipment and Access.

Through the Breaking Boundaries with Broadband Program, Connect Arkansas will work with existing community programs and create programs as needed to promote increased internet use and ownership of computer devices.

Creating Impact. At the Community Level.

The work of Connect Arkansas helps to build stronger communities. Through the creation of a competitive, local telecommunications infrastructure, communities will be able to sustain high-value jobs and provide a greater quality of life.

For the State

According to the CSE Freedom Foundation, full broadband deployment in Arkansas will create 8,200 new jobs and bring in over $2.6 billion annually in additional Gross State Product (GSP).