Local leaders and state legislators celebrated a big investment in the technological future of Pine Bluff and Jefferson County, one they believe will lead to educational and entrepreneurial growth locally.
"There are people who have said they wouldn't invest in Pine Bluff," said Walter E. Hussman Jr., chairman of WEHCO Media. "I think they're making a mistake."
One of WEHCO's subsidiaries, Pine Bluff Cable TV, on Wednesday formally announced $5.2 million in Arkansas Rural Connect grants were awarded to the cable and internet provider to expand service infrastructure and extend the broadband footprint in the city and surrounding communities.
Pine Bluff Cable TV, which provides Cablelynx-brand internet service, is building almost 93 combined miles of Fiber to the Home, or FTTH, facilities, bringing broadband service to 1,880 homes in the county. The utility added $3 million of its own money toward the upgrades, Hussman said.
The investments were first announced in March.
"We started project construction in the field two weeks ago and the project for actually applying for the grants a little over a year ago," said Chuck Launius, vice president and regional manager of Pine Bluff Cable TV. "It's been a long process. Broadband is being built across the nation, so there are supply constraints that are making it a little bit slower, but we're getting through those. We want to be finished with these projects by the year 2023, if not sooner."
WEHCO Media also owns The Pine Bluff Commercial and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Launius said the grants were awarded about a year after initial meetings with Jefferson County Judge Gerald Robinson.
"This is a game-changer for Jefferson County," Robinson said. "Ladies and gentlemen, you are a part of a team of moving Jefferson County forward."
The projects will impact four communities: Sulphur Springs (38.3 miles planted to pass 945 homes, expected to be complete Dec. 30), Pinebergen (35.95 miles passing 648 homes by July 31, 2023), East Pine Bluff (10.53 miles passing 177 homes by Sept. 11, 2023) and Island Harbor (7.81 miles passing 110 homes by Oct. 9, 2023).
The impact on Sulphur Springs was welcome news to Watson Chapel School District Superintendent Andrew Curry, who said 500 of his students reside in the community. Like many other districts, Watson Chapel faced challenges in keeping students connected to daily classes virtually amid the effects of the pandemic, severe weather and other challenges.
"There were places in time when parents had to pull in front of McDonald's and other places that had public wi-fi to get things done," Curry said. "Most teachers would work with people to do that. But one of the things about broadband in Arkansas is that, No. 1, our governor is committed to that and has been committed to that from the very beginning."
Curry credited state Reps. Vivian Flowers, D-Pine Bluff, and Mike Holcomb, R-Pine Bluff, with helping expand broadband service. Holcomb said Arkansas ranks 41st among states in broadband access, calling the statistic "terrible."
"We estimate the cost of serving these households [still without broadband] to be about $500 million," Holcomb said. "In Arkansas, we should focus on providing broadband service to the remaining 110,000 underserved households not currently served by any of these grants."
The state Broadband Office of the Arkansas Department of Commerce provided the grants. Chief department legal counsel Steven Porch stressed the importance of the improved service being made available to residents at affordable rates.
"Our packages are priced to be affordable at the lower-end speeds, but also have contract rates that make them affordable," Launius said. "There are subsidies from the federal government that most people can qualify for if they're in a certain poverty level that makes the cost of broadband well, well less than $50.
Ours is kind of at an area we need to be in for affordability. The subsidies we take part in with each individual subscriber can make it well less than $25 per month."
Ritter Communications, based in Jonesboro, announced in March it was awarded eight ARC grants with two of them totaling $15.5 million going toward service upgrades in northwest and northeast Jefferson County.
Launius said 89% of Jefferson County will have Cablelynx 1-gigabit speeds available. WEHCO announced Gigabit service last June, adding it had invested more than $2 million to upgrade the cable system to facilitate the speed.
"If you include other providers, like the provider in White Hall and what's being built across the [Arkansas] river, it's going to be like 94 to 95% when all that's built," Launius said. "It'll only be 5% of the county that will not have broadband. That's really good. That's like an urban-type statistic."
From left, Arkansas Department of Commerce chief legal counsel Steven Porch, state Rep. Mike Holcomb (R-Pine Bluff), Jefferson County Judge Gerald Robinson, Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington chat before a news conference at the Donald W. Reynolds Community Services Center on Wednesday. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)