Established by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program allocated more than $1 billion to the State of Arkansas for the construction and upgrade of broadband networks and to increase digital skills and opportunities among our state’s residents.

The Arkansas State Broadband Office (ARConnect) has developed Arkansas’ second volume of the BEAD Initial Proposal. This draft proposal is now available for public review and comment, for a period of 30 days. Volume 2 of the BEAD Initial Proposal details how the state proposes to operate its broadband infrastructure grant program, requirements for potential subrecipients, and nondeployment priorities, among other requirements.

ARConnect is seeking public review and comment of this draft proposal by all broadband stakeholders, and the office will accept public comment through December 14, 2023.

Please keep in mind that the document about which you are providing comment is a draft document and not a final document. Once the final document is submitted to the federal government, ARConnect will make the final document available for download and share it's availability through our marketing channels.

An email address is required because the BEAD program requires that our office catalogue and acknowledge all comments. ARConnect will not store or otherwise use your email address or personal information.

In addition to leaving comments through this form, should you or your organization desire to submit any files to ARConnect in support of your comments and/or in reference to Volume 2, please email us at broadband@arkansas.gov.