Arkansas-based Ritter Communications Gets Aggressive on Fiber

Jonesboro, Arkansas-based Ritter Communications continues to build on its legacy of serving underserved communities by aggressively deploying fiber in its four-state footprint across Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas. This rapid deployment has been funded by a variety of sources, including support from private equity partner Grain Management and the Ritter family, bank loans, and American Rescue Plan Act-funded state grants for broadband deployment. CEO Alan Morse said that Ritter Communications has been awarded $70 million in grants to connect un- and under-served communities in Arkansas and Tennessee. In 2021, the company launched a new fiber-to-the-home business unit called RightFiber, which has delivered state-of-the-art broadband to roughly 30 markets across the company’s footprint, with new neighborhoods launching monthly. By the end of 2024, RightFiber will connect to approximately 100,000 homes—from the fast-growing Northwest Arkansas communities of Rogers and Centerton to historically overlooked small towns like Oil Trough and Humphrey—all on a new fiber network, with speeds up to 5 Gigabits per second.