Arkansas’ First BEAD Round Covers 9% of Locations With Just 2% of Funds

Feb. 14, 2025 – Arkansas’ first round of Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment funding has yielded an efficient start, with just 2% of the state’s $1 billion allocation preliminarily covering 9% of eligible locations.

The Arkansas State Broadband Office announced Feb. 7 that 18 applicants had been selected to receive $25.3 million in subsidies to extend broadband to 7,136 unserved or underserved locations within the state. The average requested subsidy per location at just $3,555.

“The fact that Arkansas was able to cover 9% of BEAD-eligible locations for only 2% of our budget speaks volumes about the market-driven approach we chose to implement,” said Glen Howie, director of the state’s broadband office. “We look forward to seeing additional, highly competitive results coming out of Tranche-2.”

This follows a strong opening round, where 98% of locations received bids, and 96% of those applications were deemed competitive, as previously reported by Broadband Breakfast.

The state plans to launch a second tranche of funding in mid-February, with 589 bids from Tranche-1 carried forward to the next round. The Arkansas State Broadband Office will now evaluate how to distribute remaining funds and address locations that did not receive bids.

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