Biden-Harris Administration Awards More Than $5.8 Million to Arkansas in ‘Internet for All’ Planning Grants

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that Arkansas received its first “Internet for All” grants for deploying high-speed Internet service networks and developing digital skills training programs under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Internet for All initiative. Arkansas is receiving $5,843,671.85 in funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Job Act to plan for the deployment and adoption of affordable, equitable, and reliable high-speed Internet service throughout the state.

Through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, Arkansas will receive $4,999,998.75 to fund various activities including:

• Creating a five-year action plan that decreases the digital illiteracy rate in Arkansas by 50%, and enhances economic growth and job creation within the state;
• Identifying unserved and underserved locations;
• Increasing capacity and staffing of the Arkansas broadband office;
• Cataloguing high-speed Internet access and equity activities across the state;
• Surveying unserved, underserved and underrepresented communities to better understand barriers to high-speed Internet service adoption.

For Digital Equity Acy planning efforts, Arkansas will receive $843,673.10 to fund various activities including:

• Creating an Arkansas Digital Equity plan;
• Deploying a planning team that will collect and analyze data to better understand digital inequities in Arkansas;
• Engaging with stakeholders in multiple languages;
• Training stakeholders to develop local digital equity plans to be incorporated into the state's plan.